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Members
Joy Agustin (jagustin@hawaii.edu)
Astrid Tomsic (astrid_tomsic@yahoo.com)

Memos

Plans

Requirements Analysis

Usability Testing







   Interviews
   
   
   
   Usability Testing 1
   
   
   
   Usability Testing 2
   
   
   

Conceptual Design

Prototype

1. Use simple and natural dialog
   • When viewing resumes, the instructions that appear at the top of the page do not stand out. Links to "login" and "search resumes" are camouflaged by their position as part of the paragraphs as well as their similar coloring to the regular text.
   • Ambiguous reference to "the list" in the beginning of the second paragraph. "the list" can either refer to the list of resumes or a notification list. It is not obvious until the next sentence that the target audience changes between the first and second paragraphs.
2. Speak the user's language
   • The "Resume Index" name should be more meaningful to the intended audience, i.e., should make it clearer that ICS faculty and students are also able to add their resumes here.
   • "Grad Date" is ambiguous in that it is not clear whether it implies either the degree earned or the degree pursued. For example, listing a graduation date of "12/2002" for an M.S. can be interpreted as either earning an M.S. in 12/2002 or having earned an M.S., but graduating in 12/2002 with a Ph.D.
   • Button to save updated user preferences is labeled "Make Changes". This label suggests that the preferences are being saved.
3. Minimize memory load
   • Difficult to compare skill sets from the given summary. It's not obvious how the content in the skills sets are sorted, if at all.
   • The value of clicking on the Resume column header to change the resume icon to a URL is unclear. Therefore, having it on the page increases the amount of effort needed to quickly absorb the web page's contents.
   • It is also unclear as to why column headers remain as links after they are clicked on. This implies that the same link can be clicked on again, and produce a different outcome, which is not the case.
4. Be consistent
   • "Grad Date" column header should be displayed on one line similar to the other column headers instead of wrapped around to two lines.
   • There does not seem to be a pattern to when the column headers change from black to grey. We would assume that a grey column header means that it was the most recently select column header. However, that does not seem to be the case when clicking on the "Resume" column header as both the "Name" and "Grad Date" column headers also turn grey.
   • The values allowed for the "Degree" column and "Grad Date" column are not consistent. For example, both "M.S. I.C.S." and "Masters" are both valid entries in the "Degree" column, and "N/A" is a valid value in the "Grad Date" column.
   • Instructions in the second paragraph change after clicking the "Resume" column header on the Resume Index home page.
5. Provide feedback
   • All links in the instructions are grey, not the color(s) set in the browser preference as specified by the user.
   • Not obvious what is the default sorting order of the resumes. They are sorted by the last name, but the display shows the first name followed by the last name.
   • No indication of how many resumes are provided or how many belong to students, faculty, or alumni.
6. Provide clearly marked exits
   • No logout link. While a user will clearly have to login to add their resume, it is not clear that the user is logged out once they go back to the Resume Index page. We know this must be the case because the user will have to log back in to make changes to their resume.
7. Provide shortcuts
   • Menu on the left side of the Resume Index page provides shortcuts to the rest of the "career zone" services as well as the other top level categories of the ICS web site. This avoids the need to return to the ICS home page to access the other categories.
   • However, the shortcut labels provided wrap around to multiple lines. For example, "Workforce Connections" looks like two separate links.
   • There doesn't seem to be an obvious way to add a resume to the system. The user must first login. Furthermore, after logging into the system and adding a resume, the user needs to push the "Back" button on the browser to view their resume posting.
8. Provide good error messages
9. Prevent errors
   • There are no guidelines for formatting data. This is problem when the user enters data into their Preferences.
   • In the resume URL field in the Preferences, if no "http://" at the beginning of the URL, it will be automatically added for the user.
10. Include good help and documentation
    • Second paragraph in the Instructions states that there is a login link located in the upper right corner of the page. However, the word "login" in the sentence is already a link to the login page, so the user would not need the link at the upper right corner of the page.
    • Third paragraph states that resumes are defaulted to display alphabetically. Since, as mentioned before, the names are listed by first name followed by last name, it is not immediately clear that the resume index is sorted by last names.