Notes about this sample issues list:
I deliver a usability issues list to clients 1 to 2 days after testing or
review work ends. These are the basic research findings that teams can begin to act on before a final report (if
desired) arrives. Final reports include the issues lists as well as details
of the methodology and discussion of results.
The sample here is for a hypothetical kids' software product. The
issues noted here are
examples of common issues seen with kids' products and are drawn from many
different projects. The list here is also much shorter than usually
generated in a usability test. This sample represents an evaluation of a
web site with games.
[Project Title]
Key Usability Issues and Design
Recommendations
Libby Hanna
[Date]
Usability
issues are listed according to their severity.
The severity of each issue is rated as follows:
Issue
#
|
Severity
&
Participants
|
Usability
Issue
|
Recommendation
|
1
|
High
P1,
P6, P7, P8, P9, P11
|
Inconsistent
methods of opening links cause errors and confusion.
Kids
got stuck the first few times they clicked a link that opened a new
browser window. They didn’t
know how to get back to the original site and had to be told to close the
window. After that, if they
clicked a link that opened in the same browser window, they tended to
close the window and ended up shutting down their browser completely.
Some kids did this several times, clearly not understanding when
they had used one kind of link versus the other.
|
·
Consistency of how links work is critical to kids’
successful navigation on the Internet.
It is best to open new links in the same browser window so kids can
still use the Back button to navigate.
|
2
|
High
P1,
P2, P3, P5, P6, P8
|
Game
1: Can’t figure out game.
Kids
didn’t know what they were supposed to do at the start of the game and
quickly lost the level. Some
kids eventually figured it out but others gave up and commented that it
was too hard.
|
· Change instructions to make the goal of the game clearer.
· Place a few playing pieces in the first screen by default so
kids can see how they’re supposed to start.
· Start with a slower and easier pace so kids have time to
figure out the game before losing the level.
|
3
|
Medium
P3,
P4, P8, P10, P11, P12
|
Popup
warning when leaving web site is confusing and ominous.
Some
kids who saw a popup warning about leaving the site thought that they
should ask their parents if it was okay or get help from their parents to
continue. One girl thought it
meant she would be leaving the Internet.
After reading the dialog, kids usually clicked the button to take
them back to original site, indicating they were unlikely to explore that
kind of link further.
|
· Remove this warning from the site.
All navigation away from the site should be as consistent as
possible, and all links on the pages of the site should be to
“kid-appropriate” locations, making this kind of warning unnecessary.
|
4
|
Medium
P2,
P3, P6, P7
|
Game
2: Too easy to lose instructions.
Very
few kids in this test heard the instructions when they first entered this
game. They had clicked twice
on the game icon in the previous page, and the second click appeared to
carry through and interrupt the instructions of the game.
Because the hourglass icon disappeared before the screen
transitioned, kids thought that their first click hadn’t done anything
and so clicked again.
|
·
Make sure that clicks don’t count until the new screen
loads.
· Once kids click on an icon, the cursor should change into an
hourglass, and stay that way until the game screen has loaded and is ready
for interaction. Any action
that is un-interruptible must be clearly indicated by the hourglass
cursor, and subsequent clicking should be ignored by the program.
|
5
|
Medium
P2,
P5
|
Frustration
with overlapping hotspots.
A
couple of kids got frustrated when they tried to click one hotspot and
accidentally activated another one because the hotspots were too close
together or appeared to overlap.
|
· Make sure that hotspots are distinct from one another with
enough space in between so kids can easily find the one they want.
|
6
|
Medium
P11
|
Site
contains too much text for early readers.
Younger
kids ignored most of the text in the site and found it difficult to find
appropriate content. They
tended to click on ads or brand logos that they recognized.
|
· Make sure the site is appropriately designed for the target
age. For younger kids,
links should be graphics rather than text as much as possible, and
supported by abundant use of animation and audio.
|
7
|
Low
P1,
P3, P4, P6, P7, P8, P10, P11, P12
|
Pictures
don’t look clickable.
Because
they saw a rollover color change on the text links, but not on the
pictures (other than the cursor change over all links), kids tended not to
click on the pictures.
|
· Add rollover animation to pictures so that kids know they
can click on them when they move their mouse cursor over them.
The animation can be as simple as a border color change.
|
8
|
Low
P1,
P7
|
Game
2: Rollover audio doesn’t make sense.
Some
kids heard rollover audio for one icon when they had moved their cursor
over it and then gone on to something else.
It didn’t make any sense to hear to hear the audio when they were
on a different icon.
|
· Make sure that rollover dialog like this cuts off as soon as
kids move their cursor away from the hotspot, so that they don’t hear it
when they are looking at something else.
· Rollover dialog should always be activated only after kids
have left their cursor on the hotspot for 0.5 seconds, and cut off as soon
as the cursor moves away.
|
9
|
Low
P3
|
Hotspot
too small.
One
kid tried to click an icon, but couldn’t find the hotspot.
|
· Increase the size of the hotspot so kids can easily click
it.
|
10
|
Good
All
|
Category
menu is useful.
All
kids used the category links in the menu to explore different sections of
the site. Several kids
understood and used the Home page button to return to the first page they
had seen, and they were also able to locate content they had previously
seen in another category by clicking category links to return there.
|
|
11
|
Good
P4,
P6, P7
|
Game
3: UI clear.
All
kids who tried this activity understood how to use game pieces and what
they were for.
|
|
12
|
Good
P1,
P5, P8
|
Game
4: Gameplay sufficiently easy.
More
kids could get through the first few levels of this game with the
adjustments in difficulty made since the last test.
|
|