Walkthrough Setup
Evaluation Completed by: ~gthompson
Date: September 19, 2007
Environment/URL: MyUW
Scope of Walkthrough
uPortal: Public/Guest page, Login, Home Page, Academics Page, UW Course Resources, Logout
User profile(s) and context of use
Persona: Ed McClellan, Undergraduate
Ed is in his freshman year. Ed has used the portal a few times and recognizes that there are a few valuable (though not highly usable) services within the portal. Ed is accessing the portal via his laptop from his dorm room.
User Expectations & Conventions
- Portals: MyYahoo, Facebook
- Job Search: Monster, CareerBuilder
Scenarios
Ed is searching for his instructor's contact information to email a question regarding his assignment.
Walkthrough
Guest Page and Login
As I had to use the demo account, I could not properly evaluate the login or the guest page.
Home Page
Refer to the UW Home page evaluation.
After looking at the tab choices, Ed decides to try "Work Record" since it has the word work in it.
Work Record Page
Usability Issues |
Principle |
Priority |
Suggestions for solution |
Component Identified? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Match between system and the real world, Flexibility and efficiency of use, Aesthetic and minimalist design |
|
Provide more useful content (like a search interface). Personalized job listings (like the personalized professional development) would be ideal. |
|
|
Visibility of system status, Error prevention |
|
Indicate to the user that they are going to be transfered to another application/site |
External Link Indicator |
|
User control and freedom |
|
Provide a means to return to the portal |
Host Panel/Frame |
My professional development content is interesting, but Ed is looking to get paid. The Student Job Center link under Employee Resources looks promising. A single link displayed as a list is semantically wrong, and the single link as the only content feels very forced (do you really need an entire, separate portlet for a single link?) and a waste of space. The title "Employee Resources" is vague and untrue as Ed is not yet an employee and there is only a single resource (Student Job Center).