uPortal Walkthrough - Student Email Scenario

Logo and institution identification confirms the overall property and location

Visibility of system status

Page Header

Standard portal layout and feel (tabs, columns, boxes of content)

Consistency and standards

Unauthenticated state can be inferred from the presence of the login form and lack of personalized content

Visibility of system status

Indication of current tab was not immediately clear. First pass assumption would be that the colored tab (About MyUBC) is the selected tab. Primary first position of the actual selected tab (Main) reinforces it to be the selected tab. Continuous color and association (white tab with white page background) of the actual selected tab reinforces it as the selected tab on further investigation

Visibility of system status

Main Navigation/Tab Navigation

Channel icons mostly unclear (compare to Yahoo). Shader icon is likely to be recognized but is in reverse. i and box icons are not immediately known.

Consistency and standards

Portlet Container/Controls

Help icon symbol immediately recognizable as help

Consistency and standards

Portlet Container/Controls, Help

Discontinuity between presence of channel icons of the two channels on the Main tab; not sure why there are not the same controls on the second channel. This causes some discomfort, especially since the second channel does not have a help icon

Consistency and standards

Portlet Container/Controls

Presence of Help link in top right corner

Help and Documentation

Help

Help link needs to be more prominent (singular link, color blends, far right location)

Help and Documentation

Help

Help and documentation available through the news on the Main tab and the content on the About tab. Were a user to read through this content, it would help shape understanding and expectations

Help and Documentation

Help

Match between registration and login term (CWL)

Consistency and standards

Login

Standard login form

Consistency and standards

Login

Documentation/explanation of CWL and login form

Help and Documentation

Login

Help links are present in forgot password, contact us, and help desk

Help and Documentation

More prominence to the login help links

Login

Notation of downtime and instructions for how to avoid error/lost information

Error Prevention

Probably should be highlighted as a warning

Login

Human readable error statement when username/password do not match

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Login

Login error message is properly associated with login form

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Error message needs to be labeled as such, and made more identifiable (use a different color than is used on the input labels)

Login

Indication of logged in status by non-presence of login form, change in content and number of tabs, and additional content in header (specifically welcome/personal information and logout link)

Visibility of system status

Difficult to recognize portal system tasks (header links)

Recognition rather than recall

Add icons, use more familiar labels

Toolbar

Survey promotion appears in an unexpected place. Would expect to see the survey promotion in the content rather than associated with system tasks

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Create a promotion area in the content, ensure system tasks are clear and readable

Promotion/Advertisement

Headers and banner graphics use a large amount of screen space, not available for user-selected content

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Create a reduced-size version of the Guest Page graphics and banner

Login name is not displayed, and is not apparently available. CWL person name is displayed, possibly exceeding privacy comfort limits of user

Recognition rather than recall, Visibility of system status

Add a function that user can invoke to display login name, person name, and login time/date, duration etc.

Mechanism for popping up status information, but not leaving it on the screen

Noticed a new channel icon, the X, recognizing the ability to remove content, and some greater awareness of customization of the content and layout

Recognition rather than recall

Clicking the X icon on a channel brings up a confirmation to remove or cancel; this potentially is inefficient if truly desiring to remove (adds one more click)

Error prevention, Flexibility and efficiency of use

Trouble! Clicking the X and confirming desire to remove a channel did not result in expected behavior (channel was not removed). Appears that clicking the X produces no result, but there is no error message. Comes across as broken functionality or system problem. I must question the competence of the overall portal and I am less inclined to explore. I must question my assumptions about whether or not I can really customize my portal.

Error prevention, Consistency and standards, Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Try the other button (maximize) to see if it works and what it does. Discover the focused view.

Match between system and real world

Return to portal link present

User control and freedom

should be more prominent, use the term "home" instead of "portal"

Get back to task of checking mail. Scan tabs, click Webmail.

Match between system and real world

Webmail tab in the main navigation is now selected

Visibility of system staus

Webmail tabs are a familiar navigation mechanism are have recognizable labels (inbox, compose, folders, address book)

Match between system and the real world, consistency and standards

View Navigation

No email in the inbox made the view less recognizable, but a message indicates that I have zero mail messages

Visibility of system status, Recognition rather than recall, Aesthetic and minimalist design

Greater readability of the status message by increasing its prominence (remove other controls and actions that are only needed when there is email in the inbox, use more white space, indicate notice with an icon

Mail actions are noted, like delete and check for mail, because of their grouping and use of icons (trash can, for instance)

Match between system and the real world, consistency and standards

Toolbar

Check for mail icon is a bit puzzling

Match between system and the real world

Use a more conventional icon (envelope, for instance)

Unsure of the difference between delete and delete permanently; assume that delete will move to a deleted folder and that delete permanently will remove the email entirely, but this is not clear

Error prevention

Have only one delete action, move delete permanently action to the Deleted folder actions

Note quotas, both number of emails and overall storage space - helps the user know the boundaries

Visibility of system status

Quotas

Notice a help icon in the top left

Help and documentation

Contextual Help

Help link uses the same ? symbol, but is in a different location and uses a different visual treatment; confusing overall - still aware that it is the help, but unsure why I am experiencing help in different locations

Consistency and standards

Follow platform standard for help location and treatment

Contextual Help

Notice a new pencil icon has appeared on the channel title bar, not sure what this is supposed to do or why it has shown up in this context. Alt text reveals "settings". Clicking the icon loads the Webmail settings view. Scan reveals mail settings, primarily from the content, labels, and title.

Consistency and standards, Recognition rather than recall

Settings should appear in context and put with other Webmail views (inbox, compose, folders, etc.). Use a clearer view title.

Settings view: confusing first content is "YesNo" with no context; appears to be an error - this increases my perception that the portal is not competent

Error prevention

Ensure this "code leak" gets plugged.

Settings view: interface is cramped and jumbled, making it hard to read and understand

Aesthetic and minimalist design

More closely associate the form input labels to the inputs and provide more space and readability.

Settings view: notice filter function. Confused about the initial filter presentation - not sure if the filter inputs indicate an active filter or not

Error prevention

Present "add filter" inputs only when user starts an add filter workflow

Form submission buttons are consistent with previous experience on the login form - same visual formatting

Consistency and standards

Would be even better recognition and error prevention if the buttons were default standard submit button formatting

Canceling out of settings took us to focused view rather than the tab view. Settings now appears as a link at the top, the icon doesn't match - this is another subtle undermining of the portal's competency.

Consistency and standards

User should be returned to the view/mode they started from to complete the flow

Click through the views, not much to interact with since there is no email or contacts. Overall a reasonable visual presentation, but fairly clunky - not drawing me in or producing desire to use the interface, more subtle undermining of the portal's competency (expectations of MS Outlook or Gmail - more professional polish)

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Use a standard grid, give more breathing room, use better icons, etc.

Try sending a test email via the Compose view. Good confirmation messages, again formatting could be better.

Visibility of system status

More clearly identify messages

Assume Ed knows to click Check Email, now get the Inbox view with test email listed.

Visibility of system status, Match between system and the real world

Icon legend at the bottom is distracting and confused as actions

Aesthetic and minimalist design, Help and documentation

If the icons are not immediately recognizable, they should be changed; if they are, the legend is not necessary. If determined to still be needed, the legend should be moved to the help.

Click email title link to view message, get read view as expected. Familiar labels and email address formats. Note that the quota information updated

Visibility of system status, Consistency and standards

Try the Delete Permanently link. Confirmation dialogue appears, confirm delete. Still not fully sure of the difference between Delete and Delete Permanently, but works as seems expected and returns to Inbox showing 0 messages

Visibility of system status, Error prevention

Noted empty Address Book and no import option,; therefore Ed assumes adding contacts is a manual process and will be a headache by duplicating an already existing address book in another application - likely will not go through the effort of duplicating address book entries here unless there is an easy means of doing so; disappointment at the lack of import ability and another subtle undermining of portal competency

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Add import/export and/or sync functionality

It is possible depending on context of portal access, that Ed might simply shut down the browser without logging out. Even though it is Ed's personal laptop, Ed is familiar with systems like Gmail and Yahoo that have login and logout actions and therefore looks for the logout "Banner-blindness" to the footer instructions to logout - dismissed it as copyright stuff that I don't need to read.

User control and freedom, Match between system and the real world

Login/Logout notes and instructions should be associated with the login interaction. As help or warning for the user, this message should also be displayed as a notification that the user can remove when he/she is familiar with the instructions

Login

Logout link is findable, though not immediately prominent. Expected behavior returns Ed to the public guest page. System status reinforced by the appearance of the login form and recognition of guest content.

Visibility of system status, User control and freedom

More association of logout to user identity, clearer "emergency exit".

Login