4. Usability
Contents
Problems
Overall, the site is OK. If all of the accessibility issues are addressed, the usability of the site will also be improved.
I can't say too much about the usability of the site without running usability tests, but here are some easy-to-spot problems:
- Date looks trendy, but is not as readable as "27. Juni 2007"
- Blogs and Regional links are too small, these are major sections of the site.
- Allow easier scanning of the headlines on front page, like in the section pages.
- User doesn't expect a link to be the article title and text or a modern arrow symbol. Use text-based links that look like links, rather than arrows (best is probably "mehr", can be big and clickable)
Approach
Always have a usability expert review the site, even if it's done quickly. Doing this early on will quickly identify problems and will avoid any major mistakes.
General user tests are also a must. This will also provide some surprises and will do more for helping organise the site than predicted. This can be cheap and basic using paper prototyping or it can be more complete using partially complete implementations. Willing users can probably be easily found in the taz cafe.
Best practice
- Review site by a usability expert
- General user tests.
- Work closely with use cases and try to find out what the users want to read/do.