Early Wireframe for Home page

This is just the digital version of my initial home page design. I may change the design several times until the final version is developed however there will be 4 levels of searchability and they are:

• The main menu
• The search box
• The programmatic A-Z search
• And breadcrumbs to enable the users trace back steps and know where they are.
  
  
  
  

Card Sorting Video

Card Sorting Tests

I have conducted my card sorting tests but am yet to analyse the results. I think most test participants organised the cards similarly. In just one of the tests two cards remained unsorted as the participant was not sure which category they belonged to. I had already explained to the participants to leave whatever they think cannot be sorted under the existing categories in the left hand side window.
I have attached the screenshots of the completed tests. It shows the cards already sorted out. I will also try and upload the recording of one of the card sorting sessions, if I can.

First Home Page Sketch

As the final assignment is near, I have started with the design phase of my proposed website.

This is only the first rough sketch for the Home page. It shows where everything will be positioned. There is the logo and tagline, the search facilities including a search box and the A-Z programmatic search. Also the menu will list all major categories. The right hand side will have some advertisements. The middle of the page will list all the new businesses added to the directory since a specified date and the footer will have utilities such as sitemap, about us and/or contact us links.

Card Sorting Video

Since I finished my usability tests last week and I already had Camtasia Studio 5 installed on my computer as an evaluation copy, with only few days left of my evaluation period, I decided to do some card sorting tests and record them as well.

So I again asked all my test participants this week to do the card sorting tests. I may have to do some evaluation of the card sorting results before I can make anything out of it. I have asked Edwin and Marika if I could include the videos on the usability tests DVD since I will not be sending in a CD or DVD for the last assignment. If it was decided that I should not include the card sorting tests on the DVD I will try and post a few cuts of the videos here on this blog.

I hope it works as I never tried posting a video on any of my blogs before!

The Videos Length! May Create a Problem...

I am a bit worried after I reviewed my usability test videos. I think they may be just a little short. I know the assignment requirements do not mention how long each test should last but I think Marika mentioned on the discussion board that they need to be half an hour long. I was so busy with other aspects of the tests that I forgot to think about the time. Also, there is not much to do on my proposed websites. The only thing the users can do is search for a business and they did. I think I did however find many problems with the websites that may just save me from this time limit issue.

My Usability test 3

Test 3 went fine but with few changes. First of all my test participant asked me to read the test script for him before he started the test so when it came to the actual test I didn’t really read the whole script, just the important points. Once again the nerves got the best of me and I did jumble some words.

I also decided to let the user roam around a little on his own and I didn’t really stick to the script very tightly. I think it worked well.