Berkeley Campus-Wide Event Calendar

• Introduction
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Suggestions
• Appendices

Introduction

Overall, your prototype is great! It looks like your team has done a lot of thinking about the many different areas in which a SIMS student might have a need for information. Effectively presenting such a large amount of information is a difficult task, and we have done our best to come up with all the suggestions we could think of to present it in the clearest possible manner.

Heuristic Evaluation

1. [H6: Clearly marked Exits] (Severity 4)

   There is no clear way to exit Preferences to get back to Home or any of the other tabs (Courses, UCB, News, Interests). This is true on both the customize page that appears when you first login and also later when you click on preferences from within your portal. The only button on the page that looks like an exit button is the �Cancel� button. However, since this button is inside the context of one of the tabs (i.e. Interest), it is unclear whether the button applies to just the tab or the entire page. (2 evaluators)

2. [H2: Speak the User's Language] (Severity 4)

   I do not think that the term "channel" is very clear. Does it only apply to the content within the Interests tab? Are all content boxes considered channels? Also, it is unclear what a Custom Channel is and where it comes from. Although the term content �channels� is in wide use today in the area of RSS feeds, we don�t think it can be assumed that all incoming students to SIMS will initially know what that means. It would be helpful if you defined �channel� on the Welcome page instead of just listing what the channels were. It would also be helpful to explain on that screen what the �and more� part of �academic information and more� could be, which would be another opportunity to talk about what is or is not a channel. Also, you talk about �content channels� on the Welcome page and �content� on the Preferences page; I believe referring to the same thing. (2 evaluators)

3. [H1: Consistency] (Severity 3)

   Some content boxes are clearly linked. For example, �Course Readings & Assignments� changes according to what course is selected in the �Course Information� box. However, this relationship is not clearly displayed in the UI. These 2 content types are placed in separate boxes that look alike. There is no consideration of their hierarchy and link. This is also true on the News page with News Source and News Headings, and is an inconsistent metaphor with the way the rest of the channels work and how they are defined. It is also unclear if users can delete one content box and not the other. Should these be placed in one box? (2 evaluators)

4. [H3: Minimize User Memory Load] (Severity 3)

   There is no visual flow to any of the pages. The channels boxes are all different shapes and sizes but seem to just be placed randomly on the screen giving the user's eye no place to rest and the placement just seems arbitrary and confusing rather than useful. It may be difficult for users to remember the placement of these different content boxes on different pages. (2 evaluators)

5. [H9: Clearly Marked Exits] (Severity 3)

   Each content box has 2 icons on the upper right corner: a bar for minimize and an �x� for delete. Does the delete button remove the content from users� settings permanently? Is this the same action as adding and removing channels from the preferences section? (2 evaluators)

6. [H1: Simple and Natural Dialogue] (Severity 3)

   In the Preferences section there is an effort to separate content from presentation by placing content and color scheme on separate pages. However, isn�t layout of content also presentation? If feels awkward to have to determine the layout of the content when all the user may be interested in is getting the content on the screen. The fact that different channels take up a different number of cells is also problematic. It becomes an exercise for the user to have to find the most efficient way to fit the maximum amount of content on the page. It is also unclear why there are only 9 cells. Will the page scroll down for more?

7. [H4: Consistency] (Severity 3)

   The page layouts in the Preferences section are not consistent. The sub-navigation links are not placed in the same position, the page label is not consistent, the Welcome message is not in the same location, and subheadings are displayed differently.

8. [H4: Consistency] (Severity 3)

   Preferences: Hard to tell due to the limitations of the prototype, but it seems like the interaction for initially setting up your Preferences the first time (the long form with different sections) is very different from how one changes Preferences later. This seems unnecessary and potentially very confusing. After studying it a bit, I realize that maybe the page you get to from the Welcome screen is the Profile part of the Preferences but it is not obvious that it is part of the same thing that I visited later when I clicked on the Preferences link.

9. [H9: Prevent Errors] (Severity 3)

   Dragging and dropping is much more difficult to coordinate than simply clicking. Also, they are currently unable to see more than one channel in order to determine how much room is left on their grid. If they remove one channel temporarily to make room for another, they must go through the process of selecting a category and channel from a long drop down menu again.

10. [H10: Help and Documentation] (Severity 3)

    Is there help documentation available to users who have not yet signed up for the site? You don�t show the left-side Preferences | Help | Logout menu on the Home page of an un-logged in user or on the general Welcome page. Even a guest should be able to get help and it�s confusing not to include the standard menu selections throughout the application. (See Yahoo! Mail.) If the �Help� is the same as the Tutorial on the home page, it is confusing to have two different ways to access it.

11. [H1: Simple and Natural Dialogue] (Severity 3)

    Home Tab: They layout of "channels" on this page don't seem to make a lot of sense - The portal tutorial and Google search are at the top, while something like email which people use a lot is at the bottom.

12. [H1: Simple and Natural Dialogue) (Severity 2)

    Preferences- Set-up Course Details: Why are we only interested in the courses a student is enrolled in as well as those they are �Interested In�? What exactly does �Interested In� mean (e.g. can you only select courses for the current semester), and if we include that, why aren�t we including access to all Courses taken, as the user was definitely interested in them at one time? It is not clear where this information comes from. Is this populated from your UCB registration? If so, it seems weird to have a box of courses you are "interested in" right next to ones that you are officially registered for. It seems like a there is a bigger mental distinction between this two types of classes. (2 evaluators)

13. [H2: Speak the User�s Language] (Severity 2)

    On the Welcome page, users can choose to customize their site by clicking on the Customize button. This takes them to the Preferences section�s Profile page. It is unclear that customize means preferences.

14. [H4: Consistency] (Severity 2)

    All pages: Buttons are not consistent in design or in use. In some cases an action is performed by clicking on a button, and other times by clicking on a link (e.g. Add Feed on the news page is a link).

15. [H10: Help and Documentation] (Severity 2)

    Since there are all kinds of content on the site, it would be helpful to be able to access help at a local level (i.e. at each content box) instead of a page dedicated to all help questions.

16. [H6: Clearly Marked Exits] (Severity 2)

    It is unclear how a user can delete channels from the Preferences/Interests page once they add them to the grid. The �x� is so small that it�s not very obvious.

17. [H2: Speak the User�s Language] (Severity 2)

    Courses Tab: It�s not clear why the calendar is under the courses tab. Is the calendar only displaying things related to courses? Or can the user use it to as a planner to enter in any events that they want? If this is the case then wouldn't it make sense as its own tab?

18. [H1: Simple and Natural Dialogue] (Severity 2)

    Courses Tab: I�m not sure why this �Who�s online� section is part of the courses page and not elsewhere on the site? What value does it add as part of the courses page? How will you identify someone who is online and in multiple courses - will they be counted as an online user under each course they are associated with?

19. [H8: Prevent Errors] (Severity 2)

    Preferences- Set up Course Details: A blank text box for adding a course that you are interested in doesn't seem very helpful to the user - what are they supposed to type in there? A keyword? The entire course title? The department and course number? The CCN? Perhaps some drop down menus or other aids would be more helpful and prevent the user from making mistakes.

20. [H3: Minimize User Memory Load] (Severity 2)

    It is a little difficult to find user name and password on the initial screen. You might want to move your application icon to the middle and move the entry fields for user name and password to the top of the screen in that area.

21. [H1: Simple & Natural Dialog] (Severity 2)

    You talk about the fact that not logging out could �inflict damage on your user account� on the Welcome page. What does that really mean?

22. [H3: Minimize User Memory Load] (Severity 2)

    When the user is in the Preferences > Profile section it is difficult to tell where they are because you only put Preferences at the top of this screen and then went straight to the sub-headings for Profile. You might want to use breadcrumbs (as I did above) to indicate the submenu in which the user is located. Additionally, I�d suggest calling it �My Profile� to make it clear that it is personal info about the user.

23. [H1: Simple & Natural Dialog] (Severity 2)

    In Profile > Academic Interests, it is difficult to tell that there are sub-menus under each Academic Interest. It is also unclear what will happen if you select an Academic Interest without selecting a Content Channel underneath it.

24. [H1: Simple & Natural Dialog] (Severity 2)

    In Profile > Personal Information it is unclear what the user should do if they want to enter two phone numbers (e.g. home and cell).

25. [H1: Simple & Natural Dialog] (Severity 2)

    In Home > Bookmarks, it is unclear exactly what is contained in the �Bookmarks� section. Is it URLs or local folders or both?

26. [H2: Speak the User�s Language] (Severity 2)

    In News > News Sources, what does �Add Feed� and �Remove Feed� mean? It looks like there is already a drop-down there with all the available choices, so I�m not sure what the functionality would be. The term feed may be confusing for some users, and conflicts with the fact that you�ve called these things Content Channels in other areas.

27. [H5: Feedback] (Severity 2)

    In News > News Sources, if �Set as Default� is checked, how does the user know that they have successfully set a feed as the default? This should be a button that returns feedback, not a checkbox (after which normally a button must be pressed to return feedback).

28. [H4: Consistency & Standards] (Severity 2)

    In Courses > Course information why is the �I� icon used? Wouldn�t a �New� icon be better, as it is the more commonly used web convention and conveys that there is �New information,� not just �Information?�

29. [H2: Speak the User�s Language] (Severity 1)

    Home Tab: I t is not clear what community the people directory is acting upon - is it just SIMS or all of Berkeley? Also, what will happen if the user presses the �View Faces� link and a query hasn�t been run yet. Should it be there if a query hasn�t been run yet? (2 evaluators)

30. [H4: Consistency & Standards] (Severity 1)

    Grammatically, it is more correct (and more widely used in applications) to say �No, thanks� instead of �No thanks� on the Welcome page.

31. [H2: Simple & Natural Dialog] (Severity 1)

    In the News > News Reader section, an �Email Story� link should not be displayed when there is no story. I found that confusing and initially wondered what it meant.

32. [H2: Speak the User�s Language] (Severity 1)

    In Preferences > Content, I don�t think there is any need to add the word �Channel� to the title of a channel (e.g. �Jakob Nielsen Alertbox Channel�). It just takes up screen real estate and is redundant since the name of the drop-down is �Channel� Also, as mentioned previously, are these websites or news feeds? Not knowing this makes it difficult for me to tell what �Add Custom Channel� could mean.

Suggestions

Overall the UI could be greatly improved by creating a more consistent format for the presentation of information and more clearly defining the model for your application. It may be helpful to differentiate between the different kinds of content you offer (e.g. news feeds vs. academic information vs. outside information) and present each type of information in a distinctive manner so it is clear that they come from different sources. Additional suggestions are contained in the heuristic evaluation above.

Appendices

• Allison's Heuristic Evaluation of SIMS Corpus (.doc)
• Myra's Heuristic Evaluation of SIMS Corpus (.doc)
• Nadine's Heuristic Evaluation of SIMS Corpus (.doc)