Wollo University

Kombolcha Institute of Technology

College of Informatics

Department of Software Engineering

Website Evaluation Assignment Human Computer Interaction

course

Name ID

1. Molalgn Mesgie……………………...1542/09

2. Lakachew Abebaw……………………1269/09

3.Bekalu Assefa………………………….1308/09

4. Tamiralech Tilahun…………………...1884/09

Submitted to Solomon B.

Kombolcha Wollo Ethiopia

June 30 2013 E.C

 1. Ethiopian reporter Website Evaluation

Based on 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design (without user) we evaluate the
website bellow.

1.1: Visibility of System Status (Usability Heuristic)

Communicating the current state allows users to feel in control of the system, take
appropriate actions to reach their goal, and ultimately trust the brand. The visibility of system
status refers to how well the state of the system is conveyed to its users. Ideally, systems
should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback
within reasonable time.
Appropriate feedback for a user action is perhaps the most basic guideline of user-interface
design. It serves to keep users informed of the current status and to allow them to steer the
interaction in the right direction, without wasting effort. Such feedback can be as simple as a
change of colour once the user has clicked on a button when a process needs a little longer to
finish. These indicators communicate that the system is working, and reduce uncertainty
preventing users from, say, tapping the same button multiple times because they weren’t sure
if the first time worked .
 due to this our evaluated system does not showing the process of loading image news
and enter the email and how to give feedback to users in appropriate time.
Problems

 due to this our evaluated system does not showing the process of loading image news
and enter the email and how to give feedback to users in appropriate time.
 Communicate clearly to users what the system’s state is — need action with
consequences to users should be taken without informing them..

1.2: Match between system and the real world

The design should speak the users' language. Use words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the
user, rather than internal jargon. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear
in a natural and logical order.

Problems

 In our country there are many languages but the website support only English and
Amharic language.

Ensure users can understand meaning without having to go look up a word’s definition. But
the website does not support many languages.
1.3: User control and freedom
Users often perform actions by mistake. They need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to
leave the unwanted action without having to go through an extended process.When it's easy
for people to back out of a process or undo an action, it fosters a sense of freedom and
confidence. Exits allow users to remain in control of the system and avoid getting stuck and
feeling frustrated.

Problems
 Not properly Support Undo and Redo.
 Show a clear way to exit the current interaction, but the system does not have exit
button
 the exit is not clearly labelled and discoverable.

Users often make mistakes or change their minds. Allow them to exit a flow or undo their last
action and go back to the system’s previous state.There are several UI controls that typically
allow people to go back to the previous state of the system:

The following button does not properly labelled

 A Back link which returns users to a previous page or screen

 A Cancel link which allows the user to quit a task or multi-step process
 A Close link which allows users to close a new view
 An Undo option (and a corresponding redo option) to allow users to backtrack on a
change to a UI element

1.4: Consistency and standards

Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the
same thing. Follow platform and industry conventions. The colour of the web site is not
consistent and not attractable for users.

Problems

The word font size and symbol dose not consistent.

 Learnability by maintaining both types of consistency: internal and external.

 The colour of the web site is not consistent and not attractable for users.
  Red collor is not selectable instead it is better to use blue

Layers of Consistency
There are several layers of consistency to consider when designing your application. As
you’re designing or evaluating your site, aim to maintain consistency in each of the following
categories.

Visual: The symbols, iconography, and imagery used should be consistent across the site. If
you’re using images, make sure they’re all given a similar visual treatment. For example, the
border colour and weight should be consistent across all images on the product page.When
choosing symbols or icons to represent actions, select icons that closely align with how other
sites represent the same concept. For example, stick to the standard magnifying glass for
search, so that users will easily recognize it.

Page and Button Layout: You’ll likely have several different types of pages on a site, but
there are components that will remain consistent across pages. Think about the similarities
and differences between pages. For example, how does a product page differ from an order-
update page? There are styles and elements that you can reuse, such as headings, call-to-
action buttons, and navigation. Decide where those elements will live and make them
consistent across all pages whenever applicable.

User-Entered Data: When asking users to input information such as dates, phone numbers, or
locations, use the industry standards rather than reinventing the wheel. For example, most
sites use a calendar date picker when asking users to input dates. If users come to your site
and are presented with an open field, they will have to spend extra time thinking about which
format they should use when entering the date.

Content: When users interact with content on your various channels, they should expect a
clear and familiar experience. Read through the content that is presented to users on your site
and compare it to what users see in marketing materials. Is there a difference in the tone of
voice? If your website uses a casual tone of voice and your marketing materials convey a
very formal message, users may be confused when interacting with both.

1.5: Error prevention

Users are often distracted from the task at hand, so prevent unconscious errors by offering
suggestions, utilizing constraints, and being flexible. Good error messages are important, but
the best designs carefully prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate
error-prone conditions, or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before
they commit to the action.

Tips

 Prioritize your effort: Prevent high-cost errors first, then little frustrations.
 Avoid slips by providing helpful constraints and good defaults.
 Prevent mistakes by removing memory burdens, supporting undo, and warning your
users.

Two Types of User Errors:

Before discussing how to prevent errors, it’s important to note that there are two types of
errors that users make: slips and mistakes.

 Slips: occur when users intend to perform one action, but end up doing another
(often similar) action. For example, typing an “i” instead of an “o” counts as a
slip; accidentally putting liquid hand soap on one’s toothbrush instead of
toothpaste is also a slip. Slips are typically made when users are on autopilot, and
when they do not fully devote their attention resources to the task at hand.
 Mistakes: are made when users have goals that are inappropriate for the current
problem or task; even if they take the right steps to complete their goals, the steps
will result in an error.

1.6: Recognition rather than recall

Showing users things they can recognize improves usability over needing to recall items from
scratch because the extra context helps users retrieve information from memory. It is not
effective to minimize memory and other web elements.

problems

 Let people recognize information in the interface, dose not having to remember
(“recall”) it.
 Dose not reduces the information that users have to remember.
1.7: Flexibility and efficiency of use
Shortcuts unseen by the novice user speed up the interaction for the expert users such that the
system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. It is flexible but not efficient.

Problems
 The web site have not proper keyboard shortcuts and touch gestures.
 Provide personalization by tailoring content and functionality for individual users.
 Not properly customization, so users can make selections about how they want the
product to work.

1.8: Aesthetic and minimalist design

Interfaces should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra
unit of information in an interface dose not compete with the relevant units of information
and diminishes their relative visibility.

Problems
 Dose not Keep the content and visual design of UI focus on the essentials.
 Don't let unnecessary elements distract users from the information they really need.
 Prioritize the content and features to support primary goals.
1.9: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no error codes), precisely indicate the
problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Problems
 Dose not use traditional error message visuals, like bold, red text.
 Not Tell users what went wrong in language they will not understand —not avoided
technical jargon.
1.10: Help and documentation

 Interface help comes in two forms: proactive and reactive. Proactive help is intended to get
users familiar with an interface while reactive help is meant for troubleshooting and gaining
system proficiency. It’s best if the system doesn’t need any additional explanation. However,
it may be necessary to provide documentation to help users understand how to complete their
tasks.

problems

 The website doesn’t ensure help documentation is easy to search.

 The documentation doesn’t give right context at the moment that the user requires it.