This is a guideline I created a while ago with a former coleauge to ensure that we’ve thought though how a new feature will impact the application from a usability perspective. It has helped to minimize post release modifications. Next time you’re making enhancements to a complex UI, this guideline may come in handy for you…

General

• What is the objective?
• What is the solution?
• Does the solution meet the objective from a consumer point of view?
• Is this the right strategy for the right project?

Flow

• How does the solution affect the page and related pages (as an Entry page)?
• How does the solution affect the pages leading to the modified page?
• How does the solution affect the pages that the modified page links to?
• How does the solution affect other components on the modified page?
• Does the solution require additional or modified error handling?
• Do we need to update any documentation as a result of this solution?

Users

• How does the solution affect the User experience?
• What user needs is this solution satisfying?
• What types of users (personas) will find this solution helpful?
• Are there questions about the solution that a usability test or user research can answer?

Peers

• Who in our group has expert knowledge on the subject, product, or feature? Have they weighed in on the solution?

Reporting/Tracking

• Does the solution affect analytics or reporting in any way?
• Are there any new reporting requirements for the solution (like additional analytics tags)?
• How do we plan on measuring the effectiveness/success of the solution?

Standards

• Are there site conventions that the solution should follow (colors, font, type, grammar, hierarchy, button placement, etc…)?
• Should new standards be created to compensate for the solution?

Accessibility/Internationalization/Localization

• Is there any contextual help or documentation necessary to assist the user with the solution?
• How would multiple languages affect the design/layout of this solution?
• Does the implementation seem transferable to multiple sites and languages?
• How does the solution relate to localization?
• Does the solution compensate for accessibility standards?
• Screen Readers
• Mobile Mediums

Human Factors International is broadcasting a free webcast on the Future of Usability Testing on Thursday, September 21st at 3:30 pm ET.

Co-hosts: Dr. Susan Weinschenk & Dr. Kath Straub, Human Factors International

Download free whitepaper and connect to webcast at:
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/webcasts.asp

Susan and Kath will explore new innovations in usability testing and share the research behind them. Learn which techniques will fit your needs best. Topics include:

- Remote testing
- Automated testing
- Mixed-fidelity prototypes
- Testing more than one design at a time
- Alternatives to the usual think-aloud technique
- Eye-tracking

The Webcast concludes with a live Q&A session, where you can submit questions and have them answered on-the-air.

Crazy Egg, launched just a couple of weeks ago, offers website analytics that include heatmaps (similar to Click Density).

Crazy Egg allows you to:

• Test different versions of a page to see which works better
• Discover which ad placement gives the best results
• Find out which design encourages visitors to click deeper
• Learn which content leads to improved sales

Their product offers several different ways to look at the click data…

The Overlay View overlays expand/collapse icons over your website next to each link. When you expand them it shows you the percentage of overall clicks and the actual number (personally I’d want to see this information up front instead of having to expand them all):

The List View gives you a basic list of clicks grouped by link and orders them by most popular (being able to change the sort would be a nice to have):

The Heat Map View shows you where people clicked and highlights more concentrated areas by using oranges and reds:

Their free service allows you to track up to 4 pages as long as your visits (to those 4 pages) are under 4,000 per month. After that prices range from $20 to $100 per month depending on the plan.

When it comes to figuring out where the problem areas of your website are from a usability perspective, analytics can give you very good clues (if not data-driven answers) as to which pages are the culprit.

With good website analytics you can:

• Compare user behavior from one design vs. a new design (A/B testing) by analyzing:
• Exit Rates
• Conversion Rate
• Where users go after they land on the page
• Optimize your top entry pages so that they make sense as an entry page to your users
• Analyze top exit pages for possible usability issues

I’ve had experience using several of the most expensive analytics suites out there (Web Trends Professional/Corporate, Omniture, etc…).

Thanks to Google Analytics, paying top dollar for your analytics is a waste of money and soon to be a thing of the past. Its completely free, offers everything (and more) that your pricey analytics suites offer, and its even easy to use!

Implementing google analytics is as easy as adding few lines of javascript to every page you want to track(similar to the way you do it using Web Trends, only easier).

If you use google adwords, its fully integrated into analytics and will show you the return on your keyword investment.

All in all, its a very good product and I would not make any major site decisions without it. Stop paying and go google
Google analytics resources:

• Wikipedia on Google analytics
• Google Analytics Review
• Official Google Analytics Blog

BumpTop created an amazing prototype for a 3D desktop application. Personally I’m not sold on the concept, but there’s some excellent ideas for managing files in several different ways. Its one step closer to bridging the gap between our physical and digital worlds.

There’s also a pretty funny knock off of this video here.

ClickDensity, launched in July 2006, is the first to publicly offer Heat Mapping of user clicks. This allows any website to track every click that a user makes on their website, and view a visual overlay (called a heat map) of where those clicks where on the page.

With this data you can quickly see the effectiveness of a design, measure click trails, and much more.

Implementation is a snap, you just add a couple of lines of javascript to the bottom of every page you want to track. That’s it! The service looks very impressive at an affordable price.

Every website looking to gain insight on user behavior should look into this.

We’ve all been there…you’re the only one around, the kitchen trash has started smelling foul and even that little ball of foil you need to throw away just wont fit in the already jam-packed trashcan (or is it just me?). You try to pull the trash bag out of the trash can, wrapping your legs around the can to get some leverage, grunting and sliding around, you spend 10 minutes just freeing the bag from the can.

This is the design flaw of the trash can.

I have a simple solution…poke some air holes at the bottom of the trashcan! This allows air to flow into the bottom where the frustrating suction occurs.

Perhaps “taking out the trash” wont be such a chore now