NASA Usability, Design Feedback, and IA

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NASA Usability, Design Feedback, and IA
02/26/2003
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Agenda

• Usability Testing
• Background
• Findings Review
• Next Steps
• NASA Commentary
• Background
• Findings Review
• Next Steps
• Information Architecture
• Background
• Architecture Review
• Next Steps

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Usability Testing - Background

• Testing Objectives included
• Determine what information users are looking for
• Understand what tasks users expect to perform
• Gather initial impressions of the homepages
• Ensure labels and navigation are intuitive
• Identify missing information or features
• Locate, identify, and explore trouble spots to
  understand and remedy them
• Gather feedback and responses to validate design
  strategy, process flow, intuitive level of
  navigation, and level of content

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Usability Testing Methodology (How)

• Critical Mass and Usability Sciences developed a
  set of tasks which users were directed to
  complete
• The tasks, created for both the NASA February
  Launch site and PDR site, were designed to
  compare common features and explore the key
  components of the sites
• The tasks were used as a guide for participants
  to perform activities on the various areas of the
  site and to provide feedback.
• In addition to the standard tasks all users
  performed, users visited specific areas of the
  site depending on their audience definition
• Participants maintained ongoing dialogue with the
  Usability Analyst and voiced opinions regarding
  the sites navigation, intuitiveness,
  functionality, content, and specific usability
  concerns.

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Usability Testing Audience (Who)

• Audience Experience/Interest
• Mix of users who had and had not previously
  visited NASA.gov
• Mix of interest level in NASA and space
• Audience Demographic Breakdown
• Equal mix of male and female users
• 5 Kids - Ages 8-12
• 6 Students - 2 Middle School, 2 High School, 2
  University
• 6 Educators - 2 General Educators, 2 Elementary,
  2 University
• 5 Press Media Users
• 5 General Population Users

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Usability Testing Issues Reviewed (What)

• Concepts Tested for Both the February Launch and
  PDR Sites
• Homepage layout and content
• Main menu categories
• Segmentation categories
• Search
• Navigation
• Additional Concepts Tested for February Launch
  Site
• Flash introductory video
• Additional Concepts Tested for PDR Site
• MyOneNASA
• Advanced search
• Sub-search (a.k.a. Local Search)

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Usability Testing Findings
Initial impression of home page
6.1
5.5
Look and feel of home page
6.0
5.4
Features and info on home page
6.2
5.9
6.1
Average rating
5.6
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
1 Extremely Dissatisfied
7 Extremely Satisfied
PDR
Current NASA.gov
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Usability Testing Findings

• Overall participants reported a positive
  experience with both sites, although they favored
  the PDR
• PDR appeared to offer more information and
  features
• PDR organization and layout was easier for to
  understand
• Users liked the Sub-categories offered within
  specific segment pages of PDR
• Selectable grade levels in students navigation
  helped understanding
• PDR personalization was seen as valuable
• Users liked the larger font, use of color,
  animation, and organization of the for Kids page

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Usability Testing Findings

• Flash Introduction Issues
• Most of the press media, educators, and general
  public skipped the intro in order to quickly get
  into the site
• Almost all of the kids, middle school students
  and high school students liked the intro video
• Many users indicated that they did not have a
  sense of how long the intro was
• Several of the educators either overlooked the
  visit the Educator Astronaut site link or were
  unsure what it meant
• Some users clicked the Visit the Educator
  Astronaut site link, and were confused regarding
  where they were and what they were viewing.

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Usability Testing Findings

• Flash Introduction Recommendations
• Reposition the intro as a multimedia feature on
  Kids, Students, and Educator landing pages
• Consider including it as a feature in the Flash
  banner on the home page
• Consider creating variations of this video that
  are more audience specific
• Consider adding a playhead or status bar to show
  the duration of the video

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Usability Testing Findings

• Banner Issues
• Some users felt the graphics disappeared too
  quickly
• Users were unsure how to use the 1,2,3 options
• Banner Recommendation
• We are making the 1, 2, 3 larger and clickable
• The entire images will be clickable
• Animation speed may be slowed down

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Usability Testing Findings

• Labels / Navigation Headers Issues
• Users were unclear what some of the main
  navigation labels meant
• Labels / Navigation Headers Issues
• Revise labels where appropriate
• Make use of alt tags to provide some
  descriptions where necessary

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Usability Testing Findings

• NASA Vision Bucket Issues
• On Feb Site - The titles Improve Life Here,
  Extend Life to There, and Find Life Beyond
  were confusing to several users
• NASA Vision Bucket Recommendations
• When these users viewed the PDR site, they stated
  that the titles for the three main topics were
  more easily understood

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Usability Testing Findings

• Left / Sub Nav Issues
• Many users did not notice the gray sub-navigation
  menus located on the left-hand side of the page
• Some users were confused that they could not
  click on the first link within the sub-navigation
  menu.
• Left / Sub Nav Recommendations
• We will address this on the redesign. Though it
  is important for users to notice the navigation,
  the priority still is the featured content on the
  pages.

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Usability Testing Findings

• Features Issues
• Many of the users were disappointed by the
  content of the featured article, as they felt
  that the article stopped
• A few users commented that they did not fully
  understand all of the verbiage used within the
  article
• A few of the users stated that they did not like
  the layout of the featured articles. They wanted
  these articles to contain more graphics, and
  appear less technical
• One user commented that the articles required too
  much unnecessary scrolling
• Features Recommendations
• Provide related links to additional information
• Provide a glossary feature to understand the
  meaning of some of the words used within the
  article
• Explore the feasibility of implementing a
  page-break strategy

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Usability Testing Findings

• Search Issues
• Some users felt that articles were irrelevant
  based on the keywords they searched on results
  were too broad
• Some users felt overwhelmed by the number of
  results
• Users were confused by the returned, hits,
  and total counts displayed
• Users felt there should be more options for
  navigating search results pages beyond next and
  previous
• Local search
• Some users did not understand the local search
  feature on the PDR
• The sub-search feature was seen as highly useful
  but not obvious to many users

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Usability Testing Findings

• Search Recommendations
• Add method of accessing pages which are several
  pages in front or behind the current page
• Scrutinize search UI in detail
• Local search
• Consider color and layout of sub-search in UI
  design revisions

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Usability Testing Findings

• My NASA Issues
• Overall - High user interest
• Some users did not understand the OneNASA label
• The term Channel was unfamiliar and unclear to
  a few users.
• My NASA Recommendations
• Refine current strategy
• My OneNASA label changing to MyNASA
• Finalize user path and interaction strategy for
  MyNASA
• Currently exploring alternate label options to
  address channel confusion

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Usability Testing Findings

• Content Requests / General Feedback Issues
• Users seem to want an easier way to find Mission
  information in a more chronological fashion
• A Press Media user mentioned that he expected
  to find a listing of contacts
• Many users noticed the NASA Fact presented
  throughout the site, but expected more from it
• One user (post secondary educator) suggested that
  he would like to see more sophisticated topics
• Include the department and email address for each
  contact in the Media Contact area
• Click on a NASA Fact to view a more detailed
  facts section

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Usability Testing Next Steps

• Critical Mass to forward full usability testing
  results as well as specific recommendations for
  each result along to NASA
• Critical Mass requests any NASA usability
  comments be forwarded to CM by Friday EOD

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NASA Feedback Background

• NASA provided Critical Mass with some navigation,
  content, and general UI design comments
• CM reviewed these in parallel with usability
  feedback

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Font size and color Issues
• The font sizes cannot be changed and are small -
  probable 508 compliance issue
• Gray type used for photo captions is not easily
  read
• Graphics that contain type need to be large
  enough to be legible
• Font size and color Recommendation
• 508 compliance is specifically addressed in the
  Low Bandwidth version
• Consider allowing fonts to be resizable
• Reconsider gray type, make it darker. Ensure that
  photo credits are presented differently than
  article content

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Site header Issues
• Gray banner across the top is neither visually
  interesting or functional it is a waste of space
• The bottom banner is a great space to add "get
  back" or "Back to top" navigation
• In looking at the affinity level one that is
  presented, the gray seems rather dominant, could
  this be variable?
• Site header Recommendations
• Gray bar is intended to establishes the NASA
  identity, allow for persistent search navigation,
  and remain neutral enough that it doesnt compete
  with featured content below
• Back to top anchors are a good idea - it might
  also be a recommendation to limit the length of
  pages or introduce a page linking strategy

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Featured content Issues
• Content below the fold, though changing on a
  daily basis may be devalued. i.e. New Features
• Worthy, interesting topics not highlighted in the
  Flash Banner will be effectively buried by the
  layout
• Colored backgrounds may call out key content
  better
• On each Landing page, make one of the feature
  stories stand out more the others. Just link to
  the rest.

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Featured content Recommendations
• User feedback confirmed that the UI design is
  highly successful in meeting expectations
• Content priority is determined by NASA with
  consideration for user feedback. Since importance
  varies by user, the audience segmentation is
  prominent. Other high priority content is
  included in the rotating banner, and the Search
  feature.
• Other features are positioned appropriately on
  the home page based on priority, however not
  everything can be highlighted in the UI or
  nothing will stand out
• On Secondary pages, prioritized content is
  located at the top in the 2 feature promotional
  banners. Images and related media will help make
  the content more compelling

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Rotating Flash Banner issues
• The rotating image is difficult to use. Numbers
  arent clickable. Numbers too small.
• Recommendation
• As per usability recommendations, text will be
  linkable, navigation numbers larger, and image
  rotation could be slowed down

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Navigation Issues
• Bread Crumb navigation may help guide users
  through content more easily
• Navigation Recommendations
• When considering breadcrumb, we noted that
  content is mainly limited to 3 levels (Home
  Section Page Feature Article), or it is often
  linked to a new new window after three levels.
• When tested, users were able to determine where
  they were within the site and how to get back to
  previous pages
• It was noted that many people prefer to use the
  browser back button.

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Suggestion
• Make the large promo banner inside specific
  sections be a rotating Flash promo (as on the
  home page)
• Recommendations
• Flash banners inside sections are a good way to
  feature content. They could rotate features or
  use flash to promote a single feature.
• These will need to designed and constructed in a
  way that is appropriate to the audience and
  content as well as being considerate of the
  forthcoming NASA.gov Design Standards.

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Suggestions to UI Design
• Add more curves to the design. The site looks
  very stark and hard.
• Consider revising colors
• Recommendations
• Introducing another type of visual language to
  the pages that contain a lot of information and
  strong organizational structure would not assist
  users in understanding the site
• Colors chosen for the home page reflect the NASA
  identity and also reference the American flag
• Very positive user feedback and response to UI
  design , any changes should be directed towards
  addressing specific usability concerns or changes
  in strategic direction

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Suggestion
• Upon entry into the secondary pages, there is
  extreme NASA overload
• Remove some of the features and news links.
  Adding white space will give the site a cleaner
  look and a more sophisticated appearance.
• Recommendations
• There will be a lot of information in this site
  as this is the nature of a portal - Information
  is organized into features with short
  descriptions that are easy to scan
• User input suggested that more information is
  beneficial as long as it can be understood

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NASA Feedback Findings

• Suggestion
• Create a consistent style for photo credits
• Make photo credits easier to read
• Recommendations
• Consider using a darker gray color or another
  variation to existing style sheets
• Ensure photo credits are separated from the main
  article content

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NASA Feedback Next Steps

• Critical Mass to forward list of NASA commentary
  to NASA along with associated recommendations
• Critical Mass requests any follow up NASA
  feedback be forwarded to CM by Friday EOD

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Information Architecture Review Background

• Comments

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Information Architecture Review Recommendations

• Review of high level Information Architecture
  document

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Information Architecture Review Next Steps

• Next Steps
• Review proposed structural feedback based on
  results obtained in usability testing
• Obtain feedback and confirmation that we can move
  ahead with changes
• Begin process of scrutinizing sub navigation
  buckets
• Finalize user interactions in MyNASA and
  Search areas of nasa.gov
• Apply changes to UI Design