Measuring Website Usability
Websites are hard to tie down to rigid programmes for evaluating usability. This is because of the variety in which they differ in terms of navigation, graphics, etc...
However, three approaches have been developed which you could use to evaluate your website, see these below.
Alternatively, Juicy can advise you on your website's usability and highlight possible areas for improvement.
Usability comparison tests
This involves the usability between your own website and those of your direct competitors. Best results here are from incorporation of real-life users for each site, as well as detailed evaluation of their experiences.
Expert / heuristic evaluation
This involves swapping real-life users for actual web usability specialists, and taking advantage of their knowledge and experience through their findings on each site. A range of heuristics are available from key HCI gurus.
Visit www.useit.com for Jacob Neilsen's approach.
User Enquiry sessions
This can be separated into two methods - that of user contextual enquiry (DUCE) and team evidence analysis (TEA) sessions .
User contextual enquiry (DUCE) sessions involves users interacting with the site and verbalising their experiences inorder to provide evidence relating to the overall usability of the system.
Team evidence analysis (TEA) session involves a team of developers refining the evidence captured in the DUCE sessions to create a number of design improvements.
Juicy can measure the usability of your website and advise you on how to improve the user's experience. Contact us to find out more.
