Web Usability assignment

One of the universal concerns in website design is that of usability. It is critical that users of a website are able to access information in a time-effective and intuitive way. If locating information becomes overly time-consuming or frustrating, users (figuratively) vote with their feet and may not re-visit the site.

Designers can improve their designs by testing their sites for usability prior to going live on the Web. Usability testing typically asks users to carry out tasks on a Web site while designers monitor their movements, taking note of areas where the design navigation or content is less than optimal.

For this assignment, you are asked to evaluate a website from the standpoint of usability. There are three sections to this assignment, but all three should be combined and submitted as a single Word document:

• Audience Analysis Section of Assignment
• Usability Guide Section of Assignment  (please use the included table as a guide)
• Recommended Changes Section of Assignment

The length of your final document (combining all three sections) is not mandated, but the length of the Recommended Changes section within your final document should be approximately one single-spaced page.

Assignment

To complete this assignment you need to:

• Begin by reviewing the usability guidelines (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. provided by the website usability.gov (you only need to reference the “book” PDF found at the link in the paragraph below), a site designed to assist Web designers and site managers in creating accessible websites. Following is a description and link to the information you need (students are strongly encouraged to download the following “book” in PDF format).

Usability Guidelines Book

The Research-Based Web Design & Usability GuidelinesLinks to an external site. includes all the guidelines, the Background and Methodology, the Glossary, Appendices, Sources, and the Author Index. We have included the document for your convenience, but we are in the process of presenting the guidelines in a searchable database.

• Identify a website you wish to test for usability. The URL for this site should be included in the submitted document. (Remember that you have to include Recommendations for Improvement — if you select a site that is “perfect” then it may be difficult to make any suggestions.)
• Complete the Audience Analysis section of the assignment.
• Complete the Usability Guide section of the assignment. It is important (for a good grade) to refer to (and cite) the usability guideline(s) (from the PDF above) that support each of the major points in your usability evaluation.
• Complete the Recommended Changes section of the assignment.
• Place your responses to each of these sections in a single word document. Again, where appropriate, reference the usability guideline(s) in the PDF that support your responses.
• Submit all three sections in a single Word document

Audience Analysis Section of Assignment (1 page)

• Why do you think the company/organization developed the web site?
• Who do you think is the primary audience for the site?
• When and why might the audience visit the web site?

Usability Guide Section of Assignment
Use the guide attachment template to assist you in evaluating the site of your choice.

Evaluate your chosen site by providing a rating for each of the statements below using a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 equals “strongly disagree” and 5 equals “strongly agree”.  Secondly, provide comments indicating the ways in which the site either met or did not meet the specified standard. Provide comments for each item. Make sure that your Comments for each Usability Guide section (below) reference the appropriate Web design guidelines from http://guidelines.usability.gov/ that support your analysis.

Recommended Changes Section of Assignment

For this portion of the assignment, write one full single spaced page discussing your recommendations for modifications to the site under evaluation. This recommendation should be reflective of your rating and comments provided in the downloaded Usability Guide.