Get Your 2009 Bad Usability Calendar Posted 1/12/2009 by Raina, Project Mgr

Promoting bad usability? I think not...more like making users aware of bad usability and Web design.

Today I came across NetLife Research's 2009 Bad Usability Calendar.  NetLife Research is a team of usability specialists located in Oslo, Norway.

As the new year approaches, so does their new edition of the (in)famous Bad Usability Calendar featuring 48 classic design mistakes, all of which have been submitted by Web users.

Their team of experts filters through the nominations and create the bad user experience calendar, rewarding those users whose bad user experience design nominations are used.

NetLife Research uses these calendars to distribute annual examples of bad design around the world. I plan on using this calendar of bad usability as an example for my User Experience lecture for the 352 Media Group Internship program.

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	Common Web Site Usability Issues to Avoid Posted 12/3/2008 by Raina, Project Mgr

A user friendly Web site is one of the most important factors to keep users coming back. Whether it’s making a purchase or information gathering, people are visiting your site for a reason. If visitors can’t find the information they need or can’t easily accomplish their task, then you can expect them to go someplace else…like your competitors Web site perhaps? 


Here are some common Web site usability issues to avoid:

Inconsistent Confusing Site Navigation
Your site navigation should be consistent throughout the entire Web site. Make your navigation titles clear and meaningful so users know what information is under each section.

Misleading Registration Forms
I had a client once who wanted to make their two part form have a “Submit” button on the first part rather than “Next” or “Continue.” Misleading users into thinking they are done with a form when really there are more steps to follow is not the route to take. If a form is long, then split it up into multiple steps and show the user where they are with each step. This is a good rule-of-thumb for registration and checkout on e-commerce sites.

Long Paragraphs and Difficult to Scan Content
Content is king. Users scan and search for information on the Web. Users rarely read the content line by line. Your visitors know what they want and they are determined to find it. Use appropriate headings, action words, bullets and tables to convey information that is easy for the user to see.

Misidentified and Unidentifed Links
Make links underlined and/or a different font color than the other text. Avoid underlining words/phrases that aren’t links. It’s frustrating for users when clicking on an underlined word results in no action. Although, some Web sites make links a different color on mouse rollover…this is ok but some users are not intuitive enough to know it’s a link without that minor differentiation.

Hiding Content from Unregistered Users
This is an annoying experience I often encounter; after searching for something on Google, and I find the information I need, but I have to be a member or fill out some long ridiculous form in order to view it? No bueno. Frequently, I will ditch that Web site and find information elsewhere that doesn’t require registration. Ask yourself if there is a better way to entice users to register on my site---perhaps a newsletter signup?

Searching for Contact Information
Usually visitors to your site are looking for some way to contact you. Make it easy for the users to find your contact information to submit both positive and constructive feedback.


You can avoid a cluttered and confusing Web site by developing a Web site that allows your visitors to intuitively perform the actions they need to perform.  Presenting information clearly and concisely to visitors will help them to find exactly what information they are seeking and complete their task with no problems. You can accomplish a user friendly Web site by giving visitors the correct choices in an obvious way.                           
                                                                                                                                                                 

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	Ten Commandments of User Experience Posted 11/10/2008 by Raina, Project Mgr

User experiences are your everyday experiences---anything from operating a car, to making a pot of coffee, to ordering a pair of shoes online. User experience is the result of your interactions with a product or service, specifically how it's delivered and its related artifacts according to the design.   

User experience umbrellas the following:

After attending a user experience presentation by Blue Flavor’s Director of User Experience, Nick Finck, I’m constantly focused on my own user experience; not only with my own internal web development projects but the everyday design of products, web sites and other services. I found Nick’s presentation very interesting so I‘ve taken what I learned from him, completed some more research and compiled my own ten commandments of usability (in no particular order)  

1.     Know Your Users: The User is Always Right  

With the exception of  i-d-i-o-t errors, the user is always right. Know your user. Who is your audience? What are their characteristics? What are their goals? What tasks are they trying to accomplish to reach their end goals? Many companies seeking a Web site overhaul don’t focus on the sweet spot, that even balance of their business goals, customer/user goals and technical goals.  

2.     Usability Testing and Evaluation  

Evaluate the client’s existing product and evaluate opportunities for improvement. An effective Web site, allows customers (users) to achieve their goals, has a high conversion rate, meets business objectives, delivers a positive brand image. An efficient Web site provides answers quickly, follows a logical sequence, doesn't waste resources and requires less time management. A satisfied user achieves their goal, enjoys their experience, tells others, comes back again and embraces the community.  

3.     Avoid Solutioneering  

Promote questions before answers.  What is the problem at hand and what solutions can resolve that problem? Blue Flavor’s design guru, Jeff Croft wrote a great blog post about solutioneering so check it out.

4.     Form Follows Function  

When a function needs to be performed, the design must support that function. It’s plain and simple; think about what is right for your user. 

5.     Content is King  

Write to your audience. Make your content conversational with appropriate user vocabulary. Use headings to highlight important content sections, bullet points to convey information, tables/lists when appropriate, underline links, avoid using italics and use a friendly reasonably sized font, san serif for ease of reading. 79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-for-word.  

6.     Focus on Innovation, Avoiding Imitation.  

Create Web applications that are useful for users, specifically a community for them to interact in. Nick shared a great example regarding innovation, the Nike + Human Race 10K.  Nike took their product, Nike+, which tracks and communicates your pace while you run. Nike launched the world’s largest running event, taking place in 25 cities with over 1 million runners participating.  The Human Race was more than a branded community event; it was a global sales pitch highlighting the Nike+ product line and driving traffic to Nikeplus.com

7.     Accessibility  

Clients will have their business goals in mind but often put their own needs over their users. Practice ADA compliance and think about the context, for example large screen vs. small screen (mobile).    

8.     Dig Into Information Architecture  

IA is 80% of usability. Build an efficient navigational structure with clear navigation, in a logical structure, with easy-to-follow site hierarchy. Make the controls understandable for users and avoide confusion between emblems, banners and buttons. It irks me when I go to click on a button or link and it doesn’t take me anywhere.    

9.     Improve Interface Designs  

Ask yourself, how easy is it for users to accomplish their tasks on first visit? Once users are familiar with your Web site, how quickly can they perform these tasks? When users return after a period of not using the interface, how easily can they reestablish proficiency? How many errors do users make, how severe are the errors, and how easily can they recover?  

10.  Learn From Failure and Fail Better  

In our rush to succeed, rarely do we see the merit in failure. Remind yourself that unaccepted failure is a step toward success. “We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” – Samuel Smiles

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	The User is Always Right...Always... Posted 10/20/2008 by Raina, Project Mgr

I experienced the worst e-commerce site recently when purchasing a gift card for my sister-in-law.  The Web site is http://bypia.com/ 

First off, not only is the worst Web site but worst customer service…so making my user experience annoying not once, but twice. I called Pia’s and left a message requesting someone call me back so I could purchase a gift card.  This was during their normal business hours and no one ever got back to me…so I figured maybe I can purchase the gift card on their Web site…or can I?
 
Despite the hideous color scheme, annoying cross-cursor and extremely small font…I noted some major user issues during my Web site experience.  Remember...the user is always right...always.  Use the information below as a good example of what not to do...

1.  The navigation is unorganized and hard to see…my eyes are wandering all over the place to try and find a gift card to purchase.



2.  I finally locate where I can buy a gift card and add it to my cart.  And of course, floating in (which is more annoying my opinion than “popping up”) comes this window trying to sell me on a not needed box to put the gift card in that I’m planning on having e-mailed to my sister-in-law anyway.   



3.  Next issue, how do I get this gift card e-mailed to my sister-in-law? There are these confusing instructions that reads:  



4.  I followed the link to “PLEASE READ HERE BEFORE PROCEEDING” to make sure I didn’t need to scan my eyeball or submit a blood test before checking out because they sure were making things more complicated than they needed to be.  Also, notice the multiple navigation links for “Go Back;" the repetition is completely unnecessary.  



5.  I was stoked to know that I finally knew what I was doing…I proceed to checkout following the instructions, but I’m thwarted by another floating pop up saying "If you selected EMAIL DELIVERY, please DO NOT user your name in the "SHIP-TO" - suer only the RECIPIENT'S name. Each certificate is linked to the Recipient's FULL NAME."

6.  Even more annoyed by my user experience, I now receive a floating pop-up about the recipients e-mail address saying “If you have an AOL or Earthlink email, you may not receive emails from us.  Please try to use a different email address.”     

Eventually, I was able to successfully check out after being sent to PayPal to complete my transaction. Yet, I have still received no confirmation from my sister-in-law as to whether or not the gift card was successfully sent to her e-mail inbox…   
           

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	The guys at Clearleft know how to do it. Posted 7/25/2008 by Declan, Acct Mgr

I have been a big fan of Clearleft, and generally read anything that Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith have to say about our industry. Furthermore, if I lived in Brighton (UK) I would be knocking on their door asking for a job.

For me personally website usability is one of the most important factors of building a website, -- just because your website is very visually pleasing, wont mean anything if nobody can use it, what is the point, it’s a waste of time and money and users won’t come back, because they bad a experience.

Clearleft have just launched Silverback, the new ‘guerilla’ usability testing software, you can download it here http://silverbackapp.com/. (It only works on a Mac). The item that impressed me was in the email I received, they noted that “Registration after the 30 day trial period is just US$49.95,”  (take note Apple, this is how it's done).

They managed my expectations, and for that Clearleft I thank you, I will be purchasing your software and helping to save a Gorilla somewhere.

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	First Experiences Last a Lifetime Posted 11/21/2007 by Declan, Acct Mgr

I got my Vitamin feed email this morning (go now sign up I recommend it) However it was based on "User Experience" the acronym "UXP". And some of the points they made are really interesting and make really good common sense.

• You don’t get a lot of time to sell yourself to a potential customer who loads your page; most people are lazy, and more importantly, impatient.
  
• You (website owner) have to go the extra mile, because they (end user) won’t
  
• Help your users and customers to do what they want, not what you want them to do.
  
• Good design makes people feel good.

I'm going to actually add this again "Help your users and customers to do what they want, not what you want them to do." Now lets emphasize the - do what they want!

Just think about it for a second when making a decision to redesign your site. Ask your users what they want as they are the people that will be using the site - they will thank you for it.

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	Making Your Web Forms Most Effective Posted 8/29/2007 by Geoff, Pres/CEO

Which arrangement of "Submit" and "Cancel" is most effective?



Thanks to a great usability and eye tracking study by Luke Wroblewski & Etre, we now know.

The answer, surprisingly, is that layout B was the most efficient.  Users located and clicked the Submit button fastest on layout B.

But users also were concerned that layout B, if used on a long Web form, made it too easy to accidentally cancel the form.  With that factor considered, layout A became the favorite, because it presented a good mix of effectiveness and efficiency.

Seems right to me.  You can read the full study here.

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	New Web Site Rating System Flawed at Best Posted 7/31/2007 by PeterV, VP, Marketing

So Accenture launched a Web site evaluation service creatively called the Accenture Web Evaluator.  On its face it sounds good, saying it will "assess how well companies use their Web sites to support their brand, attract customers, deliver services, and generate sales."  Sounds all good, until they show off their benchmark sites, which they rated as the top five under these categories.  They include:

Nike.com
Ford.com
Google.com
Adidas.com
Microsoft.com

A couple of these I agree with whole heartedly.  Google is the epitome of usability with the simplest interface letting the customer get right where they want to go without wading through ads or useless content (ala yahoo, for example).  Even with as simple as the site is, you're still just a click away from everything the site has to offer.

Microsoft and Ford each have sites with considerably more content, but again it is simple to navigate and find where you're going.  Microsoft especially has a great search feature that has also helped me find whatever I need.

So that brings me to nike and adidas.  I was shocked to see them on the list, especially nike.  To me that is the most frustrating site.  It tries so hard to be cool that is misses the point in my opinion, which is selling stuff.  For me, Nike.com is the site that wins the awards because it looks cool, but doesn't perform in the real world. 

My biggest complaint is the product categorization.  I think they expect people to be way more familiar with their brand then most are.  For example, what is the difference between the Sport Culture, Sports Essentials, and Nike Zoom collections?  No idea here, but I have to choose between then in order to find a shoe.  Yes there are other ways to search, but for me it's just too much.  The simpler the better imho.

Adidas is no better, hiding the "shop" button in the lower right of the homepage.  I'm sure most people come to the site to read about careers at adidas!  I can learn about the shoes off the homepage, but it takes me to a new site when I want to shop.  Adidas does a better job of product organization than nike once you get there, organizing solely by sport rather than category names known only to the nike brand managers. 

I've never bought from either site, not for lack of trying.  I usually get frustrated and end up on zappos or even sport authority...sites that don't look near as cool, but get the job done much better for me.

If you ask me, Accenture came to these sites to evaluate them and looked at them from a coolness factor rather than actually going through the processes a customer would.  Ok, I'm sure they did much more than that, but that is the only way I can explain sites like nike getting on a list with google.

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	Oops. Something went wrong. 404 pages Posted 7/19/2007 by Declan, Acct Mgr

I was doing research on a site and I landed on a 404 page it got me thinking.... I should really be suggesting this functionality for my clients websites, from a usability point of view this is important if a user types in the wrong URL, or a search engine link that's out of date etc. It lets the user know that there on the correct site but the wrong page Example or a better Example

I went too A List Apart to research it, and understand why its needed, and get some ideas so I could add Error 404 pages as standard verbiage to my client proposals.

So from now on budget permitting, I will advise 404 pages error pages  to include a site map of the clients website links or a search function if applicable so the users can easily navigate to the page they want to go to. This will also be good for SEO and accessibility for blind users.

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