Web Usability

Getting started with program structure

2006-05-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

Develop a workflow structure for project lifecycle usability testing for any library project with a web-based interface

Questions:

What are the stages of a project lifecycle?

Selection -- Creating, imagining the project
Planning -- Establishing steps, timeline, resources, sequence of activities to complete the project
Execution -- performing the activities outlined in "planning"
Termination / Maintenance -- finishing the activities (termination) / finishing the activities and passing the project to an oversight/operational group (maintenance)

At which stages should a usability component be inserted?

Selection -- include usability studies as part of the user research that informs project selection
Planning (implementation planning) -- 1) refer to (sections of the guidelines/handbook); 2) include usability testing/activities as part of the project timeline, requirements, and milestones; 3) consultation with usability group
Execution (implementation) -- [obviously]

(see web development roles)
(see checklists for those roles)
(including usability testing)

Termination (completion) (at least the "termination" of Phase X)
Maintenance (moving into Phase X+1) -- separate usability calendar/process for existing local web products (when a new product is completed, it may move into the "maintenance" function)

What usability activity/ies should occur at those stages?

Who performs those usability activity/ies?

What documentation of the completion of usability activity/ies should there be?

If a usability activity results in a recommendation of changes to some aspect of the project, what process ensues from that?

If project participants dispute the findings of a usability activity (i.e., they don't want to make recommended changes), what happens?

How do we define different levels of projects?

My Hypothetical Web Project

I make up my little web project

Where will this project live when it’s done

Library Public Web site -- WAC / Usability Group
(formalize the process of proposing new stuff, e.g. web form submission, etc)

little project -- use existing models/checklists/processes

big project or unique service -- (more involved consultative process)

Library Intranet -- Intranet Group / Usability Group

OPAC -- Voyager Group / Usability Group

Some definitions

2006-01-23T22:33:00.000-06:00

(draft version as of 17:30 Fri Jan 20, 2006)
(edited 11:06 am Mon Jan 23, 2006 - saj)
(edited again 22:33 Mon Jan 23, 2006 - saj)

(as always... comment, discuss, modify at will... )

We were categorizing the usability.gov guidelines items by the various roles that the users of the style guide would have.

I thought I'd write down ideas for the definition of each of those roles/audience segments, as well as some other definitions.

Web-based product:

Content and/or services presented through a web-browser interface that represents a individually nameable or identifiable entity
A web-based product could be:

Web site (e.g., UTA Libraries Online, )
Section of a web site (e.g., Library Course Guides)
Set of web pages (e.g., Focus On Faculty announcements)
Web gallery or exhibition (e.g., Tejano Voices, Cartographic Connections)
Web application (e.g., Library & Instruction Presentations, GIS News)

Author:

Person who creates or edits content of web pages
As an author you will:

write text (paragraphs, bullet points)
write a page headline
write section headings as needed
display information or data in tables as needed
make links, choosing text to display for those links
apply styles for formatting from the style sheet provided by the project developer

Publisher:

Person who approves the content written or edited by the Author
Person who vouches for the accuracy of the content written or edited by the Author
Person who confirms that the page written or edited by the Author fits within the stated usability and style guidelines for that page
As a Publisher you will:

Developer:

Person who is responsible or who shares responsibility for the conception, planning, construction, and deployment of a web-based product
As a Developer, you will:

As a visual designer:

As a programmer:

As an information architect:

Webmaster:

Person with responsibility for the effectiveness, impact, and message of a web-based product
As a Webmaster, you will:

Evaluator of Information Resources:

Person who evaluates 3rd party web-based products for potential addition to the set of information resources (e.g., databases, ejournals, web sites) offered by the library
As an Evaluator of Information Resources, you will:

Scope of Usability Skills/Knowledge:

An Author commands a specified body of skills/knowledge with regard to web usability.
A Publisher also commands that body of skills/knowledge, plus those categorized as being for Publishers.
A Developer is expected to command the body of skills/knowledge with regard to usability of an Author and Publisher, as well as for a Developer.
A Webmaster is expected to command the full range of usability skills/knowledge.
An Evaluator of Information Resources is expected to understand fundamentals and principles of usability as well as being able to recognize when usability elements have or have not been employed or followed.

Authors, Publishers, Developers, and Webmasters have "active" usability skills/knowledge -- they understand the fundamentals and principles of usability and know how to implement them to create usable web-based products.

Evaluators have "passive" usability skills/knowledge -- they understand the fundamentals and principles of usability but are not expected to know how to implement them or create web-based products.

Minimum usability equipment requirements

2005-11-28T12:16:00.000-06:00

One of our items due November 30th was to obtain minimal testing equipment for current testing. However, on further thought, since current testing is not in the scope of our group's tasks, I've amended this to read: "Investigate minimum usability equipment requirements". I also see this as an early step in developing the proposal for a usability lab.

Here's what I've put together so far. Please share your comments, etc!

Minimal equipment
Hardware:

Laptop with wireless capability
Mouse

Software:

TechSmith Camtasia Studio or Macromedia Captivate (screen capture and sync-ed audio recording)

Additional equipment

Flash drive for transporting data
Webcam for recording

Revised implementation timeline

2005-11-21T17:20:00.000-06:00

Upon further consideration of what will be required to implement a usability program and the timeline previously developed, we revised that timeline as follows (with due dates in parentheses):

Investigate minimum usability testing equipment requirements (November 30, 2005)
Inventory existing UTA Libraries web products (November 30, 2005)
Categorize web products to prepare for developing benchmarks (November 30, 2005)
Define and itemize aspects/facets of usability and accessibility to be addressed by the usability program (December 31, 2005)
Develop benchmarks for usability & accessibility (January 31, 2006)
Develop local standards & guidelines (February 28, 2006)
Prepare a draft proposal for local standards and a Web Style Guide outline (February 28, 2006)
Get WAC and LMT approval of the proposal and style guide outline (April 2006 (2nd Tues: WAC, 3th Thurs: LMT))
Create a UTA Libraries Web Style Guide for web authors & developers (June 1, 2006)
Develop a workflow structure for project lifecycle usability testing for any library project with a web-based interface (June 1, 2006)
Get WAC and LMT approval of the Style Guide and Usability Testing Lifecycle (June 2006 (2nd Tues: WAC, 3rd Thurs: LMT))
Usability training for selected staff (to be testing facilitators and local usability experts) (July 31, 2006)
Training for library web authors and developers on how to apply the Web Style Guide (July 31, 2006)
Establish the Web Usability Oversight Group (July 31, 2006)
Present a proposal for establishing a usability lab in the library (July 31, 2006)

Inventory of current UTA Libraries web products

2005-11-03T15:21:00.000-06:00

Here's a list I'd started in September:

Inventory of locally developed web-based resources:

Public resources (fully owned and controlled by the library):

Public resources (3rd party products that are locally customized):

OneSearch
Library catalog
Interlibrary Loan Online
SFX menu (see in action by searching a library database, e.g. ArticleFirst)

Library staff resources:

Intranet (pending development)
http://libstaff.uta.edu/

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Added by Gretchen:

Along with the library wide tutorials we need to include the tutorials available from library course pages

10:25 AM, November 04, 2005