Website usability: Studentlink

Jessica Winblad

Ravi Singh

Ricky Sood

Jendy Dennis

Sahba Javedani

Introduction

Our focus: the usability of the studentlink website from an undergraduate perspective

Where Does This Link Go?Most people make mistakes when visual cues do not correspond to the everyday design norms and conventions.

Email Button

What does this button do?

WebMail?

Site Navigation

• Overall: Generally Good• Strong Points:

+ consistent navigation aids

+ avoids confusing navigation methods (eg. frames)

• Weaker Points:– No Site Map

– No Search Feature

Physical Layout & Appearance

• Use of– color– images

• Accessibility

• Overall, this is well done on Studentlink.

Site Colors & Background• Rule of Webdesign: Avoid loud backgrounds with

large variances in luminosity and color. Make the text contrast the background

• Why studentlink’s design is good: “A solid background is always a good choice for your web pages. It provides an easy reading surface for your reader and it doesn't distract the user from the main focus of your page: Your text!” –jeffglover.com

versus

Color & Background Continued

• This is hard to read

• eg:

• Compilers is # # # #

Color & Background Continued

• This is also relatively hard to read

Color & Background Continued

• These colors are much easier on the eyes

• Thus is good design

Additionally• The background image is designed not to

repeat like this:

This was a real webpage featured on webpagesthatsuck.com

Navigation Buttons (from upper right corner of window)

More On Color:things in red

• red consistently used to highlight things that are important – warnings

• not overused though– overuse would lead to decreased sensitivity to

this stimulus

Examples

Academic history page:

Financial aid page:

examples

holds: (flashing)

all pages that require logging on:

Blue

• occasionally student link deviates from conventions on color– example from academic history page:

• what is blue normally used for on webpages?• how this could be fixed...

Quick Quiz

• how are the items on the button bar on the left part of the window ordered?

Answer:

• Alphabetical• Is this logical?

– alphabetical keyboards vs. QWERTY & DVORAK layouts

• Alternatives– frequency of use– grouped by how you use them

Alphabetical Vs. Logical

Pictorial Navigation BarNow With Pictorial Cues

Goal Oriented Tasks

• Overview: Studentlink is designed with a very pertinent and important task in mind.

• Signing up for classes

• Managing your schedule

• Paying fees and managing accounts

• Changing personal data.

Usability in Printing

•Example using academic history page

Remove button bar on

printer friendly view

Make title of what you are

looking at more

noticeable

Decrease use of color (color does not print well on many printers)

White text prints in light grey, not black

Before

Use dashes in student number

Feedback of whatYou are viewing

Use font weight/Styles to make Things easier to Distinguish ratherThan color for printing

Using borders will make sections easier to distinguish than using backgrounds which do not usually print

After

Before & After

Default View Before Scrolling

After Scrolling

8th week winter quarter usage:

this entire quarter (winter) since the first of jan.

usage statistics we obtained from studentlink’s website

What Was Our Point?

• People look at next quarter’s schedule of classes more than this quarter on studentlink

• studentlink’s statistics prove it

• the next quarter should be the default– it’s not even an *option* till the middle of the

quarter anyway

Even though studentlink is not poorly designed, there is still much room for improvement.

Conclusion