Results of testing initial page designs

I developed my initial page designs and have showed them to three potential users. To do this I printed the pages and asked the users the following questions (from Krug 2006; 87):

• What site is this?
• What page are you on?
• What are the major sections of the site?
• What are your options at this level?
• Where are you in the scheme of things?
• How can you search?

I also asked them what they thought of the general layout and design...and got some really good responses! They were generally quite positive:

• All users understood that it was a site for mentoring female academics (though, admittedly, I did have to prompt them on this, but this is expected to come about more through the use of graphics and logo etc. rather than the actual design of the site. Nevertheless, they could all tell from the navigation structure that the site had to do with mentoring).

• The breadcrumbs and page headings identified the pages - they could all tell where they were in the heirachy

• The navigation structure identified all the major sections of the site to all users. However, I identified that there were some problems with the navigation structure, especially on the long pages (e.g. Resources). One user commented that there needed to be an easier way of getting around the page than scrolling - and I think I'll fix this problem with a 'back to top' link.

• Interestingly, they liked the fact that they did not have to go 'back' on the 'find a mentor' page to search again - that the search, results and specific results were all on the same page. I was cautious about this because I thought they might not like having to scroll so much - but I think the addition of a 'back to top' link should overcome this problem.

• The breadcrumbs and page headings made all users feel as if they knew where they were. All users understood the function of breadcrumbs.

• All users familiar with how to search, using the search button in the top right corner. Two of the users looked here intuitively for it, the other looked for a while on the main page but eventually found it.

The users also commented that they didn't like the 'login' bar and buttons on all the pages. They commented that it took up too much room and that it was ugly and unnecessary. This is really good feedback! I've decided to have a separate login page, with only a link to the logi from every page.

Workflow for 'become a mentor'

Another workflow - this time for becoming a mentor. They're very high level but it helps me to think about the process people go through to ensure that my site will facilitate this process.

Workflow for 'find a mentor'

Since I have incorporated some element of interactivity into the site, I think it is important to develop a diagram of the way that a user will go about interacting with the site. By thinking about how the user would go about such a process, it focusses the detail more on the user and less on the screen design, and hopefully increases the usability of the site. I have used myself as subject, incorporating suggestions from users during the usability review of the two mentoring sites.

Results of testing information architecture

I emailed three people with the list of elements that I wanted to include on the site. They responded with their groupings, and with the names of the groupings that they thought best represented the associated content.

User 1
group 1: 'information'
guidelines
policies and procedures
docs to help with process

group 2: 'faqs'
what is mentoring
what makes a good mentor?

group 3: 'about this site'
aims and objectives
description of site
contact us

group 4: 'interact with others'
registration
notice board
find a mentor
become a mentor


User 2

group 1: 'resources'
guidelines
policies and procedures
docs to help with process
what is mentoring
what makes a good mentor?

group 2: 'about us'
aims and objectives
description of site
contact us

group 3: 'registration'
registration

group 4: 'meet your mentor'
notice board
find a mentor
become a mentor

User 3
group 1: 'resources'
guidelines
policies and procedures
docs to help with process

group 2: 'information about mentoring'
what is mentoring
what makes a good mentor?
aims and objectives
description of site
contact us

group 3: 'register and find a mentor'
registration
notice board
find a mentor
become a mentor

Two important comments arose from their comments:
registration is important for becoming a mentor or mentee: therefore, 'become a mentor' should be subsumed under the registration category
the 'aims and objectives' are really the same thing as the 'description of site' - this would just be double up of content so 'description os site' should go


The users had trouble combinging and naming some of the categories. For example, User 3's 'register and find a mentor' category doesn't really capture the full range of elements in that category. Also, because of the [relatively small] size of the site, I don't think it would be a problem to break it up and have most levels accessible from the home page (i.e. 2 levels of navigation max).

Considering these recommendations, I have come up with the following groupings:

Group 1: 'Resources'
guidelines
policies and procedures
docs to help with process

Group 2: 'About us'
aims and objectives

Group 3: 'Contact Us'
contact information

Group 4: 'Noticeboard'
noticeboard with job listings etc.

Group 5: 'find a mentor'
search function

Group 6: 'become a mentor'
registration function

Website functionality ideas

After conducting my usability review of other sites with similar topics (i.e. Mentoring Australia and Australia Women's Mentoring Network) and with a visual style I admire (i.e. Leriot) I've found that information architecture is one of the most important things to get right at the start. So many of the problems that I identified with the sites were caused by ill-informed information architecture. So, I have thought about how I can manage this and decided that a card sort task using three people that know little about mentoring would be useful. This requires me to get together a list of the elements of the site - the things I want to include on it. This is the list of 'elements' that I would start with - the site would hopefully grow in the future as more people got involved and user's demands increased.

Basic information:

• what is mentoring?
• list of research articles showing the effect of mentoring on job performance/satisfaction/pay, etc.
• guidelines for mentoring
• suggested policies and procedures
• what makes a good mentor
• description of this site, its aims and objectives (though make this short - minimise happy talk! [Krug, 2006])
• documents to help with mentoring process (e.g. GROW [goals, reality, obstacles, wrap up] model of coaching)
• contact us

Interactive elements

• registration for mentor/mentee matching (use recommendations and insights gained through usability testing here)
• notice board to discuss general interest topics, post advertisements, etc.

Originally I had considered having a very interactive site where participants could communicate with their partner in real time. I have since reconsidered this after reading Krug and talking with users about registration and use of such sites. I think that the process would be better facilitated by having the chat through email - it could possibly even be like dating sites where you communicate through email but the site doesn't let each person know the actual email address it's going to. I'm not sure that confidentiality like that would be SO necessary but would like to offer users the possibility.

The next step is to discuss with users how they see the groupings.