FHTW Berlin / Fachbereich 4 Internationale Medieninformatik MMA: Web Usability Sommersemester 2005 Prof. Dr. Debora Weber-Wulff

Now we know a bit more about heuristic site evaluation. Review the summary if you are unsure what this entails. This exercise will span 2 weeks.

Week 1

1. Do not sit at the computer! This exercise should be done in your groups at the table. First choose a site that you will be evaluating. This should not be any of the sites you used in the last exercise. Do not look at the site when choosing! Discuss a company you want to look at without seeing if it is a good or bad site! Check with your instructor to see if she thinks that the company is okay..
2. Design two scenarios for using the site (still without looking at the site!!). For example, if you chose to look at the pages for amazon.de (this one is now no longer available) you might want to look for and purchase a CD with the song that is like an Indian song and sounds like Hey a mamma hey a he he mamma. You will need to discover that this is the song "Spirit of the Hawk" by Rednex and then figure out how to order the CD. The scenarios should be very specific on what it is that you are looking for. Write down the scenarios and print out copies for each member of the group!

Week 2

1. Each group member reviews the usability heuristics, takes the scenarios, and now spends one hour alone, not talking with any of the group memebers, and looks at the site. Go through the interface several times and inspect the various dialogue elements and compare them with the usability heuristics. Go through at least twice, once for the general flow, once for specific elements. Take very exact notes on all the problems you find. Don't worry about solutions to the problems, we just want the problems. Assign priorities to the problems found:

Score	Severity	Fix Priority
4	catastrophic problem	Imperative
3	major problem	high
2	minor problem	low
1	cosmetic problem only
0	not a problem

2. Now the group meets together and prepares a group report that includes all problems. If more than one person finds a problem then average the priorities assigned. Include statistics on how many persons reported each problem. Your final report for today will include this group report and a link to the individual reports of each team member. Remember to put your names on the reports!

Submit theURL by the beginning of the next exercise.