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Research Methods User Group - UB Staff

Research Methods User Group - UB Staff. Arabella Crawford Tanisha Hamilton David Pepper. Introduction. Groups Who We Interviewed Goal of Site Redesign Project Big Picture. Group 1 - Nomads. Nomads Relatively New to UB Migrant (changes jobs often) May have worked at multiple Univs.

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Research Methods User Group - UB Staff

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  1. Research MethodsUser Group - UB Staff Arabella CrawfordTanisha Hamilton David Pepper

  2. Introduction • Groups • Who We Interviewed • Goal of Site Redesign Project • Big Picture

  3. Group 1 - Nomads • Nomads • Relatively New to UB • Migrant (changes jobs often) • May have worked at multiple Univs. • Opportunistic

  4. Group 2 - Lifers • Lifers • Worked at UB/Higher Ed. >= 7 Years • Sedentary (keeps jobs for a long time) • Less likely to have worked at multiple universities • Has faith in and is invested in “Seniority”

  5. Who We Interviewed(by Groups) • P1: Jeremy - Nomad • P2: Jennifer - Nomad • P3: June - Lifer • P4: Blair (Male) - Lifer

  6. Goals of Site Redesign Project • Implement CMS-driven architecture over whole site (like existing home page) • Cold Fusion-based • More “User-driven” • Capitalize on opportunity of technical redesign to reorganize content • Reduce phone calls & Emails regarding site • Help people “Get To” information • Quicker • Easier

  7. Categorization of Nav. seen as an improvement Colors seem to please people Prominence of Events seen as good Logo Prominence = Brand = Good Big Picture: People Like theNew Design P1: Jeremy (:48) P3: June (1:09)

  8. Issues • Navigation Issues • Directory Issues • Layout Issues

  9. Navigation Issues • Primary Navigation (seen as good, i.e. only minor issues) • “Categories” seen as significant improvement • P1: “[each column] has the top seven or eight links that you would need to get to” • P2: “Your eye is drawn to exactly who you are”

  10. Navigation Issues • Primary Navigation (continued) • “Categories” seen as significant improvement • P3: “It seems like there’s a lot more choices underneath the main titles than…before” • P4: “[the roll-over menus] do keep the page ‘cleaner’”

  11. Navigation Issues (Continued) • Secondary Navigation (three major issues) • Content • Seems to be a legacy of the old website, rather than part of the new site • Changes from page to page, but not in “harmony” with new primary navigation • Seems to be intended to be a “sand-box”, driven by stakeholders, i.e. localized items of interest

  12. Navigation Issues (Continued) “Sand-box” Example

  13. Navigation Issues (Continued) • Secondary Nav. (major issues) • Multi-nav • Users tended to make round-trips from primary, to secondary, to “top nav” looking for information

  14. Navigation Issues (Continued) • Secondary Navigation (major issues) • Color-cycling: Colors of elements on pages sometimes change for no certain reason from page to page

  15. Directory Issues • PDF File • No bookmarks • Find vs. Search • Find is directional (previous/next) • Basically, you need to know what/who you are looking for P1: Jeremy (2:17)

  16. Directory Issues (continued) • PDF File • Task 7: Find Email address for IDIA Director • P1: 3:22 NO • P2: 2:02 YES • P3: 2:07 YES • P4: 2:01 NO P1: “having to scroll through 49 pages just to find one office could be a bit tedious...and time consuming”

  17. Layout Issues • Layout • Secondary Navigation • Part of it is “Below the fold” (forces scrolling) • Prominence of Events • Dominates “Above the fold” • “Upcoming Events” not obviously a link • Picture is really just a usability obstacle for daily users

  18. Recommendations • Navigation • Directory • Layout

  19. Navigation Recommendations • Revise Navigation • Primary Nav. Needs to be modified to include all content formerly located in the secondary nav. • If that can’t be done, it’s not the primary nav. and/or the secondary nav. is not the secondary nav. • Left Nav. should be topical to each page • i.e. Subordinate to Primary Nav.

  20. Navigation Recommendations • Navigation (continued) • Primary Nav. should contain “destinations”, each of which have their own secondary nav. (creating “harmony”) • Remove “Old” secondary navigation items • Create “quick links” nav on homepage

  21. Directory Recommendations • Create an online, searchable, dynamic directory for faculty and staff • Allow for partial name searches

  22. Layout Recommendations • Layout • Demote events bar • Move picture • Promote Secondary Navigation • Style “Upcoming Events” to clarify that it is a link

  23. Layout Recommendations • Layout (continued) • Reconsider color changes to Events and Secondary Navs.

  24. Conclusion • Few changes = Big payoff • Navigation issues must be resolved for the new site to be useful (tough-love) • A searchable directory would be a huge service to the community (a universal tool) • In the mean time add bookmarks to the PDF • Layout changes should be mainly style-sheet changes

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