Side by Side: What a Usability Study Told Us about a Web Site Redesign

Dougan, Kirstin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/35672 Copy

Description

Title

Side by Side: What a Usability Study Told Us about a Web Site Redesign

Author(s)

Dougan, Kirstin

Contributor(s)

Fulton, Camilla

Issue Date

2009

Keyword(s)

• Usability Studies
• Web Design
• Music libraries
• academic libraries

Abstract

Library Web sites must compete against easy-to-use sites, such as Google Scholar, Google Books, and Wikipedia, for students' time and attention. Library Web sites must therefore be designed with aesthetics and user perceptions at the forefront. The Music and Performing Arts Library at Urbana-Champaign's Web site was overcrowded and in much need of a user-focused redesign. This article presents a usability study that compared participants' use of the old site versus the new site to determine if performance improved on the redesigned site. Participants were asked to complete library-related tasks on both the old Web site and on the redesigned Web site to determine if they could both complete more tasks and complete tasks more quickly on the new site. Participants showed a marked improvement on the new site, and their think-out-loud; responses to the tasks helped further improve site design and wording. Participants were also surveyed about their perceptions of ease of use and navigation on the old and new sites, and in general, the new site was preferred by participants and seen as a great improvement. Future studies will aim to further involve students and faculty in addressing terminology and site organization.

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/35672

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/19322900903113407

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