Web Usability

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Web Usability

• A simple illustration

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Example WebVoyage Timeout Utility

• Lets an opac user know how much time is remaining
  in session (bottom bar)
• A pop-up enables user to restart timer and/or
  session
• Created by Jim Robinson,
• Tarrant County College
• Consists of JavaScript apps a Cascading Style
  Sheet (CSS)
• Open source, therefore configurable

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Default pop-ups
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Lots of web usability advice out there
Just one of many, many, many, books
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Usability Guidelines1 (for this exercise)

• Krugs first law of usability Dont make me
  think!
• Close contender to first law Get rid of half
  the words on each page, then get rid of half of
  whats left.
• Fact of life 1 We dont read pages. We scan
  them.

1. From Steve Krugs Dont Make Me Think A Common
   Sense Approach to Web Usability 2nd Edition

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Guidelines 2 1

• Keep your texts short
• Users scan text and
• pick out keywords...

1. From Jakob Nielsens Designing Web Usability

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Default pop-ups
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Usability Guidelines1 (for this exercise)

• Krugs first law of usability Dont make me
  think!
• Close contender to first law Get rid of half
  the words on each page, then get rid of half of
  whats left.
• Fact of life 1 We dont read pages. We scan
  them.

1. From Steve Krugs Dont Make Me Think A Common
   Sense Approach to Web Usability 2nd Edition

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Web usability - applied
We dont read pages, we scan them.
22 words
Dont make me think!
Which button should I click?

• Aesthetics
• Removed table border
• Even spacing

Button text
6 words
One (self explanatory) choice
"Get rid of half the words on each page, then get
rid of half of whats left."
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Web usability - applied
22 words
Dont make me think!
Which button should I click?
4 words
One (self explanatory) choice
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Tweaked pop-ups