Practical Usability Research Tips Getting Users to Their Target Content

1
Practical Usability Research Tips Getting Users
to Their Target Content

• Darlene Fichter
• University of Saskatchewan Library
• February 2, 2007

2
Darlene Fichter
3
Outline
Slides will be on my web site OLA Super
Conference site

• Scent
• Exercise
• Type of Pages
• Exercise
• Three indicators that a design will fail

Types of Navigational Page Designing for
Scent based on research from Jared Spool from
User Interface Engineering Stuart Card, Ed Chi
and Peter Pirolli at Xerox Parc and others.
4
The eyes only see what the mind comprehends
Confocal micrograph by Ludovic Collin
5
Prepare ourselves

• Chance favours the prepared mind.
• Louis Pasteur

6
Prepare ourselves

• Chance favours the prepared mind.
• Louis Pasteur

7
How Users Navigate Information Scent

• The options that give the clearest indication
  (strongest scent) is chosen

Based on research from Jared Spool User
Interface Engineering others
8
Weak Scent

• Weak scent slows users down --confusion and
  back tracking

Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC)
9
iPod ?
Audio TV Books Computing Fashion Furniture Gift
s Flowers Home Garden Nursery Sports Toys
Books DVDs Clothing Accessories Computer
Office Consumer Electronics Food Household Home
Garden Kids Toys Sports Fitness Tools
Automotive
10
Books on Topic X
11
Article on ID Theft
12
Information Foraging Scent

• Using mathematical formulas, they are able to
  look at the way people estimate their success in
  hunting for information based on cues they pick
  up that they are getting closer to their lunch
• These cues are called information scent

Trigger words
13
Information Scent Assumptions

• People expect the scent to become stronger and
  stronger
• Expect it to progress rapidly

"hotter"
Photo Credit NYCArthur
14
How Do People Choose Where to Click?(2)

• Make decisions based on
• What gain can I expect from the information?
• What is the likely cost to discover and consume
  that information?
• Usually time and effort
• Visitors are ruthless, lazy, impatient and
  quick

15
Satisficing is a fact

• If visitors are ruthless, lazy, impatient and
  quick, what should we do?

In this world, convenience will always trump
quality. It's our job as librarians to make
quality convenient. Bruce Newell, Montana
,Talking with Talis Series
16
Other Factors That Effect The Hunt(3)

• Big rabbits arent
• always better

17
Nutritious Bite Sized Snacks

• Show up front that youre nutritious
• Have excellent categories that resonate with
  users
• Design your whole site for strong paths

18
Designing for Scent
Trigger words
Plain language
19
Challenges For Libraries (and others)

• Direct access to content is not always possible
  on content rich sites
• Implement special types of pages a gallery or
  department pages
• promote a logical approach to your link hierarchy

20
Types of Pages(4)

• Content Pages (Target)
• Galleries
• Departments
• Stores
• Gallery-level Search Results
• Department-level Search Results
• Search Entry Page
• 8. Home Page (Landing pages)

21
Content Pages

• Most important page on your site

22
Library Content Pages
23
Chart Percentage of Aboriginal Children That
24
Description of MLA
25
Gallery Pages

• Listing of links to content pages
• Most critical link in the chain of pages

26
Example Gallery Pages

• Which cell phone?

27
Choosing a Phone
28
Rogers Phones
29
Rogers Phones
30
Where to find articles on mirror neurons?
31
Biology Article Databases
http//library.ucsc.edu/science/ http//library.uc
sc.edu/science/subjects/biology/mcd/index.html
32
(No Transcript)
33
http//www.asu.edu/lib/noble/lifesciences/
34
(No Transcript)
35
Long Gallery Pages

• Can work well
• Cant be too long

36
Departments

• Too many phones/resources
• Need to have a Department page, which lists all
  the galleries.
• Users somehow understand that a list of galleries
  is different from a list of content pages
• Use it to narrow

37
Rogers Department
38
(No Transcript)
39
(No Transcript)
40
Stores

• Divide up content on large sites
• i.e. news
• World News, Science ?
• Store pages link to departments
• Users rarely bounce between stores
• Only works when its obvious to the users and
  you can exclude a lot of content

41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
Do Library Sites Have Stores?
44
(No Transcript)
45
Branches
46
(No Transcript)
47
Gallery-level search results

• Similar to gallery pages
• Created by search engine generated results
• Not handcrafted, not as customized

48
(No Transcript)
49
(No Transcript)
50
(No Transcript)
51
Department-level search results

• Used to divide search results into departments to
  assist in the winnowing process
• Search within section of a site or branch
  library site

52
Search entry page

• Search page or section of page

53
Home Page (Landing pages)

• Orienting users in the right direction
• Least important due to search engines

54
2 Important Functions of Home Page

1. The home page delivers the content to the user
   that they are seeking
2. Has strong scent to pages user seeks

55
How the Home Page is Used(7)

• According to UIE data, users clicks on a home
  page typically break down like this

56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)
60
(No Transcript)
61
(No Transcript)
62
Predictors of Failure

• Pogosticking
• Use of the browsers Back Button
• Use of search

Photo from seanfraga
63
Pogosticking Happens When

• Galleries dont have enough info
• The most, when you know the least
• We've found this extends to non-e-commerce
  sites as well our studies show that users who
  don't pogostick find their target content 55 of
  the time, where as those who do pogostick end up
  only succeeding 11 of the time.(6)

64
Order Matters

• People expect the most important items to always
  be listed first in the gallery
• Often don't even realize a list is alphabetical

65
First Items Can Block Scent
66
Back Button

• This completion rate falls to 18 if there is a
  single 'Back' click in the flow of the
  clickstream recording a user's visit
• Down to 2 if there are two uses of the 'Back'
  button. (8)

Button of Doom
67
Library Web Sites

• Design for scent
• Carefully craft gallery pages and department
  pages
• Watch for the 3 signs for failure with scent
• Pogosticking, use of Back, use of Search

68

• Darlene Fichter
• darlene.fichter_at_usask.ca
• library2.usask.ca/fichter/

69
References

• (1)Information Foraging Peter Pirolli and
  Stuart K. Cardhttp//www2.parc.com/istl/projects/
  uir/pubs/items/UIR-1999-05-Pirolli-Report-InfoFora
  ging.pdf
• (2) (3)Information Foraging Why Google Makes
  People Leave Your Site Faster - Jakob Nielsen's
  Alertbox http//www.useit.com/alertbox/20030630.h
  tml
• (4) The 8 Types of Navigation Pages - Jarod
  Spool http//www.uie.com/brainsparks/2005/11/28/t
  he-8-types-of-navigation-pages/
• (5) (6) Galleries The Hardest Working Pages on
  Your Site - Jarod Spool http//www.uie.com/artic
  les/galleries/

70
References

• (7) Experiencing CHI 2006 From a Practitioner's
  Viewpoint Part II - Pabini Gabriel-Petit.
  http//www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000109.php
• (8) 'Back' Button and Search are Kiss of Death to
  Ecommerce, says Spool http//www.usabilitynews.c
  om/news/article381.asp

71
Other Resources
I Dont Think I Click A Protocol Analysis Study
of Use of a Library Online Catalog in the
Internet Age Eric Novotny http//www.ala.org/AC
RLtemplate.cfm?SectionnovemberTemplate/MembersO
nly.cfmContentFileID34962
Jared M. Spool. The Right Trigger Words.
http//www.uie.com/articles/trigger_words/