USEworthy December 2001
The monthly Newsletter from The Usability Company

Welcome. Our aim is to give a monthly overview of the main events and debates in the Usability world. We also hope to provide a good introduction to the code for those of you new to the concept in the form of a multipart introduction, Usability, an introduction. This month we are highlighting Mobile applications and we've got the low down on Online Banks with a summary of one of our most recent studies. Now to get us into a festive mood..

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, nothing was clicking, not even a mouse.
Amazon's stocking was bulging, Ebay was well fed, but little old Etoys had long been dead.
Old Father Jakob had come to these shores, to preach usability, over the snores.
Back on the net, flash and porn sites still reigned, but every year their takings waned.
Agencies scrambled to make new deals
While businesses wondered how their site "feels".
Usability had become the new catchphrase, almost as big as the boy wizard craze.
Lists were being written and popped in the post, Usability comes top, at least on most.
So when writing your budget try not to forget
Usability spells success… on the net

Merry Christmas

Mobile Applications and Usability

In Oliver Stone's business thriller: 1987s Wall Street, Gordon Gekko strolls along a beach, barking instructions to one of his lackeys down his mobile phone. We see him slowly turn around and the phone is revealed... today, viewers find themselves wondering why he's talking into something that looks more like a clown's shoe than a phone. The simple truth is, that in 1987 even tycoons had phones the size of bricks. Now that times have changed and around 70% of us possess a wireless app, the features, are advancing at a faster rate than ever before. The problem now is, that while Gordon Gekko could use his brick, he'd have a bit more trouble mastering all the features on a palm pilot or a communicator.

What's the answer?

Well, obviously it's thorough user testing.

As the industry races into a future of miniscule technology with numerous extras, Usability practitioners are finding that user testing must involve deeper penetration into the application and with the problems we encounter with each new test, it is clear that the designers have left users behind.

We've developed a system for analysing on-screen navigation and interface use in these applications and combined with analysis of user reaction, psychology and feedback have made recommendations that can increase the usability of a product incredibly.

In recent tests on hand held applications we've found that the main problems users face involve the old chestnuts of: jargon, screen space and the speed of the application.

There's very little to be done about screen size, if the print was any smaller, the catch 22 is that the app would be inaccessible. The speed of these machines can only be dictated by technology, but there is also the issue of jargon. As we all know, jargon is a straightforward usability issue, so while users struggle with the inherent difficulties of these systems, they are once again hindered by all the old worries.

What's the solution? A standardized form of navigation would help, but is unlikely on handheld apps, a standardized terminology would also ease user difficulties, but again, is impractical to the number of services. So the only real answer is consistent, regular testing. This appears to be the only way to iron out user problems inherent in these mobile apps so as to encourage their growing use. Good news for the usability practitioners, bad news for those paying their bills, but in the long run, it looks like an investment that would pay off. So remember Mr Gekko's words in the closing scenes of Wall Street.. "Greed is good" ...as long as your apps are.

The Great Debate

Darwinism...

The hairy Mammoth, the Dodo, Tyrannasaurus Rex... Boo, Stepstone, and E-Toys.

There's a great argument to suggest that usability is the Darwinism of the online world. Great academic debates rage in the various seats of learning, the Dinosaurs refuse to evolve and die out in a sudden implosion and those who change over time survive to become stronger.

Just as we can visit a museum and look at a graphic depiction of the ascent of man from beast, we can now compare the former incarnations of the most successful and most obvious failures in the dot com industry.

An online library of past sites has been established at Archive.org this site features an online time machine called "the wayback machine" all you do is type in a url and you can chose a date from which to look at a site.

A brief glance at the BBC site shows it evolving from a dark information page with just 2 links in December 1996 to the comprehensive portal it has now become.

In comparison Amazon simply added to its services, it's basic design didn't change very much at all. Why? well Amazon took usability and simple design into account from day one.

There is no doubt in my mind that had the BBC not persevered with their site to improve its basic features and given it the backing of one of the world's biggest media organisations it would have gone the way of the Dodo... or the Boo.

Online Banking

The Usability Company recently undertook some site testing across 8 different online banking services, these included:

Natwest
Alliance and Leicester
Abbey National
Lloyds TSB
Smile
Egg
Intelligent Finance
Cahoot

As you might be able to tell, four of these were fully online banks, while the other four where traditional real-world banks.

As a simple overview to the usability of the sites we asked our eight participants to complete 2 tasks:

"find the savings account with the best rate of interest"
and
"find a telephone number which will guide you through setting up a savings account"

We specifically left the word "helpline" out of the second task as different sites had named the service under different titles.

Nevertheless, users knew what they were looking for and whilst there were a few difficulties navigating into the interest rate sections for the savings accounts, we gained the most interesting results from the second task.

The Sunday Times

Usability: An Introduction

Part II - The Fundamentals of User Testing

Usability is a science which is aimed at maximising the benefits we receive from our various and multiple screen technologies.

The typical usability test involves a user, chosen from the target demographic of the platform, and a specialist. The specialist sits with the user as they navigate their way around the platform and records, in a wide variety of ways, the problems and pitfalls the user encounters.

The specialist is normally trained in ergonomics, HCI, psychology or a combination of the skills. though as we are increasingly aware, many believe that reading the Neilsen Norman website qualifies them to turn from designer to medic.

Fundamental rules to observe whilst testing are that the situation is easily recreated for each user, comprehensive notes are taken and the user is not led by the specialist.

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