Usability Express: Recipe for Libraries

Bohyun Kim (@bohyunkim) Digital Access Librarian

Medical Library

Marissa Ball (@unlikelylib)f

Emerging Technologies Librarian f

Green Library

Computers in Libraries, Washington D.C. March 23, 2011

“ Usability is like cooking: everybody needs the outcome, (and) anybody can do it reasonably well with a bit of training. ”

- Jakob Nielsen, “Anybody Can Do Usability”

Why Usability?

Bohyun Kim & Marissa Ball - 3/23/2011 Computers in Libraries 2011

http://xkcd.com/773/

Users don’t …

• Read content on a web page. • Want to learn how to properly use a web site.• Visit your web site every day. • Return to a site where they could not achieve

what they set out to do.

• Users are always on the move.

From Don't make me think! : a common sense approach to Web usability by Steve Krug.

On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit;

20% is more likely.

From Harald Weinreich, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Mayer, "Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use,"

in the ACM Transactions on the Web, Vol. 2, No. 1 (February 2008).

Users and designers do not think alike.

A usable website looks right to users.

Usable = ‘Fit for Use’

• Intuitive to use• Easy to recover from being lost/a mistake• Conducive to users’ performing tasks• No need to learn at the first visit• No need to recall at repeated visits

• No frustration = Happy user-experience

Libraries and Usability

Why is it so hard tomake a library website

user-friendly?

Libraries offer a lot!

• Many systems - But almost all are information silos

• Many different services - In terminology often foreign to users

• Many details, forms, and departments- Often confusing rather than informing

Libraries often get these wrong:

• Pre-conceived notions of importance• Lack of research on users behavior• Belief that design can change user behavior• Design based upon a committee

→ Slow, design lacking unity, and represents insiders’ opinions more than users’

• Writing unsuited for the web

Common Usability Problems

& Examples

1. Clutter / Noise 2. Dated look 3. Too subtle design4. Unclear terms / library jargon5. Redundant or unnecessary content6. Bad writing 7. Design against convention8. Unintuitive navigation

Usual Suspects

• Promote all things → Nothing stands out.

• Users have no idea where to focus/start.• Information overload

→ Stress

1. Clutter / Noise

You don’t think libraries do this to users, but…

ABC Library

ABC LibraryABC

ABC Library

• Improve by taking things out rather than adding them.

• Be aware of clutter creeping in.• Users are happy to click ‘as long as’

– it is mindless &

– they know that they are getting closer.

1. Clutter / Noise

• Lowers the credibility of the site.• Users suspect outdated content.

2. Dated Look

ABC Library

ABC Library 2

• Replace old icons, images, typography.• Update a CSS file to give a new look.• As long as the site architecture is sound,

serves the same group, and has clear task pathways that work, no need to redesign.

2. Dated Look

• Users scan web pages like a billboard while driving a car at 60 miles/hr.

• Subtlety in web design often backfires.• Good web design ≠ Good print design

3. Too Subtle Design

ABC Library

• Make visually clear what’s most important, valuable, popular.

• Provide a clear visual hierarchy on the page.• Break pages up into clearly defined areas.

3. Too Subtle Design

• Test your site with new users.– Card sorting method

4. Unclear Terms/Library Jargon

ABC Library

• Replace all jargons with plain terms.• Do not use the product names that the

vendors picked on your library website!• Use a short description if necessary.

4. Unclear Terms/Library Jargon

• Redundant content creeps in as time goes by.– Welcome, Introduction, etc.

• Unnecessary content = Small talk– Users have no interest in small talk.

• Answer users’ questions, not yours.• Serve content that users can grab and go.

5. Redundant/unnecessary Content

• Make a content inventory.• Review content by category & purpose.• Remove overlapping, redundant, unnecessary

content.

5. Redundant/unnecessary Content

• Rewrite a page to be the half of its length.• Then cut more! • Do:

– Use clear headings.– Make paragraphs short.– Start with the key point.– Make content easy to scan (*bullets)

6. Bad Writing

ABC Library

• The best ally of usability is convention.• Anything that prompts a pause and thinking

is bad. Surprise

Confusion Agony over choice

Stress

7. Design against Convention

ABC Library 7

ABC Library

Where am I?

• Don’t underestimate the value of convention.• Be creative without sacrificing usability.• Convention implies:

– Obvious & predictable = familiarity– No need to learn how to use– No need for explanation/description

→ User satisfaction

7. Design against Convention

• Is it an information architecture issue?• If so, use usability testing methods to find out

what navigation structure / organization of content makes sense to users.

8. Unintuitive Navigation

Planning & ConductingUser Testing: quick, cheap & easy

The User-centered Design Cycle“Usability is an iterative process of testing/redesign, retesting/redesign, & retesting/redesign.” (Luther)

Classic Testing Cycle• Profiling• Planning• Place• Participants• Materials & Scripts• Sessions• Debriefing• Analyzing• Recommendations

testing

retesting

redesign

Who are they?

Profiling…it’s not just for law enforcementFocus groups, surveys, and analytics data can all help you build your user profiles and determine which users to focus on

“Usability studies should be targeted to specific users in order to derive an accurate result” (Nathan)

Who are they?

How many users are needed?

Happy LibraryUsers

“Ideal” sample size?• Varying “ideals” across usability literature,

however, the quick and dirty camp promotes the following-

“The ultimate user experience is improved much more by 3 tests with 5 users than by a single test with 15 users.” (Nielsen)

Goals of Profiling• Inform testing methods• Inform design• Tell you what your users

really want/need out of your site- how does thisalign with your goals?

• Tells you who all of your user groups really are

Happy LibraryUsers

Discount & Guerrilla Usability Methods• Simplified & informal• Varied & multiple

1. Focus groups & surveys2. Card sorting3. Contextual interviews & intercepts4. Paper prototyping

1. Focus Groups & User Surveys

• Moderated discussions & written feedback• Will reveal qualitative feedback that will help to

inform and compliment the design process• Works well paired with other methods• Expect sessions to last 1-2 hours

2. Card Sorting• Interactive tasks that result in developing optimal

Web site organization• Plan to have users group items into

categories and help you label these clusters

• Open vs. closed sorting• Expect the activity to last 1-2 hours

3. Contextual Interviews & Intercepts• Based on observations of users in their

environment• Casual and informal• Ask Questions• “…next to the (formal) usability test itself, the

contextual interview is probably the best tool in the box.” (Pace)

4. Paper Prototyping• Easy, disposable, adaptable, affordable• Allow your users to be creative• Create “screen shots” of various states/screens of

your site for users to interact with

GOAL: Heuristics & User Expectations1. Visibility of system status2. Match between the system & the real world3. User control & freedom4. Consistency & standards5. Error prevention6. Recogniton, not recall7. Flexibility & efficiency of use8. Aesthetic & minimalist design9. Recognize, diagnose & recover from errors10.Help & documentation

“…librarians are ideal professionals to be spearheading the move towards a usable web environment”

- Shelag K. Genuis

Usability Resources

• Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think, New Riders Press, 2005.• Steve Krug, Rocket Surgery Made Easy, New Riders Press, 2009.• Usability testing scripts and forms: http://www.sensible.com/• Jakob Nielseon, Ten Usability Heuristics

http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html• Jakob Nielseon, Anybody can do usability

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/anybody-usability.html• Jakob Nielson, How Little Do Users Read?

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html• Jakob Nielson, UseIt.com - http://www.useit.com/• 14 Heuristics by OCLC

http://www.oclc.org/usability/heuristic/set.htm• Usability.gov - http://usability.gov/• COI Usability Toolkit - http://usability.coi.gov.uk/• Usability Toolkit by Society for Technical Communications

http://www.stcsig.org/usability/resources/toolkit/toolkit.html

• Usability Resources at University of Michigan Library http://www.lib.umich.edu/usability-library/usability-library-resources

• Susanna Davidson and Everyl Yankee, Website Design with the Patron in Mind, ALA, 2004.• LibSuccess Wiki – Web Design: http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Website_Design • Writing for the Web by Gerry McGovern

http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/guide_write_01.htm• Janice Redish, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works, Morgan Kaufmann,

2007.• How to do a content audit by Hilary Marsh

http://www.contentcompany.biz/articles/content_audit.html• Content Audit and Analysis

http://www.faithwarren.com/fwg/category/Content-Audit-and-Analysis.aspx• Content Inventory

http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000040.php

• Bohyun Kim & Marissa Ball - 3/23/2011

Computers in Libraries 2011

Questions?

Additional References

Genuis, S.K. (2004). Website usability testing: a critical tool for libraries. Feliciter, 4, 161-167

Nathan, R.J. , Yeow, P.H., & Murugesan, S. (2008). Key usability factors of service oriented web sites for students: an empirical study. Online Information Review, 32, 302-324.

Pace, A.K. (2003). The usability toolbox. Computers in Libraries, January, 50-52.

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