Jeffrey Towle

Used Heuristics from: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

H4 – Location finder is by country. Display is by state/county

H6 – “Sort” does not specify the type of sort performed.

H6 – institution is displayed as initials, so one must return to the institution page to see which is which.

H4 – “institution” has an x-box next to it in the record display. Perhaps this is an error?

H6 – The cell-navigation buttons are unclear. When 112 results are displayed, the links only go to 75, yet 112 are still visible. Are these links or targets?

H4 – the “x” in the date column is only shown on one of the cells (lower bounds). If you do a search with an only an upper bound, the x-box does not show.

H6 – date does not specify date format. A look at the data reveals that it is years. There is a 4-digit limit, but it will not accept 2 digit years.

H4 – “Institution” is the only screen that narrows the search with links. The two other formats are free-text and checkboxes. It does not seem to allow a user to select multiple institutions, as the advanced search allows a user to select multiple options (ie, sex).

H4 – results are displayed in mixed caps

H4 – Catalog numbers are displayed in incomparable formats for searching. Some start with numbers, some start with letters.
H5 – There is only a single button on the “Advanced” tab, and it specifically searches for collectors. Since it is not clear how one should submit an update to the sex or preparation criteria, it is very likely that a user will click that button by mistake.

H10 – no help

H4 – not all columns are shown in the show/hide columns area.

H2 – Show/Hide columns may make sense the first time it is used (hiding columns), but it is not clear what action hides and what action shows. Is a checked column going to be hidden?

H1 – The show/hide columns area is reset after every change in the show/hide columns area. Thus, it is possible for all boxes to be checked (show all), when only a few columns are shown.

H4, H2 – If you sort a column, it reverts to show all columns.

H2 - The search box has a graphic that urges the urser to search by country, however, no results are returned for US, even though many (or all?) of the entries are located in the US.

H2 – It is not clear what is meant by a sex of “null”.

H4: Some searches (sex) allow searching for null values. It is not clear how to include null values in other searches, for example, the date search.

H6: The user is forced to remember complex rules about inputting free text. For example, it is not clear whether a partial name will be accepted, how Boolean operators will be handled, or if exact case matches are required.

H3: It is a normal convention to use the upper left hand corner as an emergency exit—an escape to the home page. In Manis, a user must delete all prior search criteria to start over, and the logo in the upper left hand corner does not have any action.

H2, H4: The “Click Map To Search by Country” graphic may be confusing. In the rest of the areas, all search controls are confined to the left sidebar. Is the user required to select a country directly from the tiny map? Try to find, say, Nepal. Or will the map open up in the center/content area. In the other searches, the center area continues to display results, so it would be confusing if a larger map opened up in this area.

H1: All links showing result numbers are linked, indicating that they take the user elsewhere. It appears as if the first page of results shows both a back button and a