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Web Multimedia

Web Multimedia. Usability And Testing. Why Test?. To see if it works To see if it suits its purpose To see if it is “useable” To see if the user understands the navigation To see if the web interface works To see if it hits its target - what it aimed to do To see if its accessible.

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Web Multimedia

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  1. Web Multimedia Usability And Testing

  2. Why Test? • To see if it works • To see if it suits its purpose • To see if it is “useable” • To see if the user understands the navigation • To see if the web interface works • To see if it hits its target - what it aimed to do • To see if its accessible

  3. What is Usability? • The measure of a product's potential to accomplish the goals of the user. • In IT, the term is often used in relation to software applications and Web sites. • Some factors used in determining product usability are ease-of-use, and visual consistency.

  4. Recap on accessibility

  5. What is accessibility? • "The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." -- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web • For a website to be accessible, its content must be available to everyone, including people with disabilities.

  6. Accessibility Means Dull • WRONG!!!!!! • An accessible page is NOT a dull, plain boring text • WAI (www.w3.org) guidelines tell you how to do things accessibly, they don’t say “Don’t do it” • Web accessibility is not about restricting your multimedia/graphical design; it's about enhancing it!

  7. Font size • The W3C recommends that you let users set the base font size in their browser and that you set all variations using the "em" unit. • An em in the Web context is the same as the font height, which makes it a relative unit and therefore flexible.

  8. Colour Blindness

  9. Seizures • Seizure disorders • Triggered by visual flickering or audio signals at a certain frequency • To use the Web, people with seizure disorders may need to turn off animations, blinking text, or certain frequencies of audio

  10. Photosensitive Epilepsy • allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to flicker • allow users to control blinking, avoid causing content to blink • allow users to freeze moving content, avoid movement in pages • provide the ability to stop the refresh, do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages • provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects.

  11. Back To Usability

  12. Typical problems • What type of information is on this site? • Assumes you are familiar with the content • What type of information will this link lead to? • Need to explain links • Unexpected links off site • Distinguish off site links • Media does not work • Make sure they get a choice and make sure links to plugins are clear

  13. How do you evaluate • Decide what you are evaluating • Decide how you are going to evaluate it • Decide who is going to evaluate • Perform the evaluation • Measure reactions / results • Analyse results • Report on results

  14. Meeting The Needs • Identify the audience (intended users) • Gender / Age / Enthusiasm • Meet the needs of the intended users • What is the purpose of the site? • Who is the site for? • What will attract users and meet their needs? • provide “quality in use” • Efficient: in an acceptable time • Satisfied: in comparison to expectations

  15. The Content • Is it pitched at the right audience • Is the user satisfied with the content • Is anything learned and how long does it take • What parts / sections do they use the most • Is the content jargon specific / Is this relevant?

  16. What is Usability Testing? • A method by which users of a product are asked to perform certain tasks in an effort to measure the product's ease-of-use, task time, and the user's perception of the experience. • Can be done formally, in a usability lab with video cameras, or informally, with paper mock-ups of an application or Web site. • Changes are made to the application or site based on the findings of the usability tests.

  17. How? • Introduction for participant • Give the user realistic goals • Something they will do on the site – play some media • Ask the user to find the information using the links • The navigation • Is it easy to understand • Is it easy to follow • Do they get lost in hyperspace • Watch and record behavior (take notes, tape) • Interact with participant • Debriefing - Identify areas of difficulty and improvements

  18. Measuring usability • Does the user make lots of mistakes • Can they reach their goal • Watch the progress they make and the routes they take • Watch where they are slow • Find out how they use the system • Ask them their opinions

  19. Recap - Create a Usable Flash Site • Flash receives a great deal of criticism from usability and web standards advocates which are valid. • What the critics fail to understand is that the designers are usually responsible for the lack of usability. • Flash has the capacity to create usable sites, but requires that designers follow the guidelines.

  20. Adobe Developer ConnectionUsability Topic Centre. • http://www.adobe.com/devnet/topics/usability.html • Remember user Goals • User typically come to a site with a goal in mind. • Remember Site Goals • Site design should reflect business or client needs. • Avoid unnecessary Intros • While intro animations are exciting, they often delay the user’s access to the information they seek to get to another area

  21. Provide logical navigation and interactivity • Remind users where they’ve been. • Give users an easy exit from each major section of the site and an easy return to their starting point. • Clearly indicate each links destination. • Keep navigation structures visible rather than hiding them until the user has triggered an event • Make sure your buttons have well defined hit areas

  22. Support back button navigation. • Using built-in browser forward and back navigation • Separate Flash movies into logical chunks • Place them on individual HTML pages • Or set up the movie to include a Flash-based Back Button that the user can use to return to a frame or scene that represents a logical previous page.

  23. More Tips.. • Design for consistency • Don’t overuse animation • Avoid unnecessary animations. • The best animations reinforce the site's goals, tell a story, or aid in navigation. • Repeated animations on text-heavy pages distract the eye from the message of the page.

  24. More Tips.. • Use sound sparingly • Sound should enhance your site but not be indispensable. • TARGET Low-Bandwidth • the smaller the download, the better. • The initial screen download should be no more To reduce download time, use smaller vector-based images (unless the image is a complex bitmap), and use the Load Movie action only when the user specifically requests a file.

  25. More Tips.. • Design for accessibility • Make your content available to all users, including those with disabilities. • Highly descriptive Alternate Tags allow your content to be interpreted by assistive technology. • The magnifying Smart Clip for zoom is another easy-to-use Macromedia Flash feature that allows more users to see your content. • http://www.adobe.com/accessibility • Test For usability • Have someone else test your site to make sure it accomplishes both user goals and site goals • Re-test you your site when you make changes

  26. Intuitive Navigation • Most people visiting a site, whether it is a Flash site or other, will be there for the content and no other reason. • If they can't find it, they will leave rather than spend the time to look for it. • Images for navigation buttons are nice, and will enhance the look of the site, but it will help if you provide an explanation of where clicking will take the visitor.

  27. Communicate With the Visitor • The visitor should always know what's and happening or where the site is taking them. • This is probably the leading usability problem with Flash sites. • After the site is created, find someone who isn't web savvy to test it. • Watch as they are navigating and pay attention to where they click, where they hesitate, or anything else that confuses them. • This will help in making your site more usable for future visitors.

  28. Web sites For Design Hints • http://www.webstyleguide.com/ • http://www.clickz.com/experts/ad/lead_edge/article.php/838701 • http://www.usableweb.com/ • http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021125.html

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