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Heuristic Evaluation

Thank you for agreeing to perform a heuristic evaluation of the Oxford Digital Library Website. You have been chosen to perform this evaluation because you either a. have expert knowledge of HCI and usability, b. have experience of developing and designing web sites or c. have a technical knowledge of digital libraries. The site can be found at:

http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Usability heuristics are broad based priciples which ought to ensure a usable interface. It is argued that using them systematically in an interface will allow a usability engineer to find usability problems.

Please read the background information to the site and then spend enough time to become familiar with the the system. If you would like some tasks to guide you through the site these can be found here .

When you have done this, make note of every usability problem found. For each problem, please record it under the heuristic that it violates. If you would like some guidance questions to ask yourself about each heuristic you can find these here.

After all experts have submitted their notes the usability problems identified will be collated. You will then be sent a list of these problems and asked to rate them in order of their severity (again via an online survey tool).

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* Your Name:

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Please evaluate the ODL site using the below heuristics


Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

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* Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to them, rather than system-oriented terms. Information should appear in a natural and logical order.

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* User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue.

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* Consistency
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.

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* Error prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.

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* Recognition rather than recall
Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

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* Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

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* Aesthetic and minimalist design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.

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* Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

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* Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

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* Any other comments?

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