Website usability: Studentlink

1
Website usability Studentlink

• Jessica Winblad
• Ravi Singh
• Ricky Sood
• Jendy Dennis
• Sahba Javedani

2
Introduction

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

3
Where Does This Link Go?
Most people make mistakes when visual cues do
not correspond to the everyday design norms and
conventions.
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Email Button
What does this button do?
5
WebMail?
6
Site Navigation

• Overall Generally Good
• Strong Points
• consistent navigation aids
• avoids confusing navigation methods (eg. frames)
• Weaker Points
• No Site Map
• No Search Feature

7
Physical Layout Appearance

• Use of
• color
• images
• Accessibility
• Overall, this is well done on Studentlink.

8
Site Colors Background

• Rule of Webdesign Avoid loud backgrounds with
  large variances in luminosity and color. Make the
  text contrast the background
• Why studentlinks 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
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Color Background Continued

• This is hard to read
• eg

• Compilers is

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Color Background Continued

• This is also relatively hard to read

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Color Background Continued

• These colors are much easier on the eyes
• Thus is good design

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Additionally

• The background image is designed not to repeat
  like this

This was a real webpage featured on
webpagesthatsuck.com
13
Navigation Buttons (from upper right corner of
window)
14
More On Colorthings in red

• red consistently used to highlight things that
  are important
• warnings
• not overused though
• overuse would lead to decreased sensitivity to
  this stimulus

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Examples
Financial aid page
Academic history page
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examples
holds (flashing)
all pages that require logging on
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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...

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Quick Quiz

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

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Answer

• Alphabetical
• Is this logical?
• alphabetical keyboards vs. QWERTY DVORAK
  layouts
• Alternatives
• frequency of use
• grouped by how you use them

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Alphabetical Vs. Logical
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Pictorial Navigation Bar
Now
With Pictorial Cues
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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.

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Usability in Printing

• Example using academic history page

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Before
Make title of what you are looking at more
noticeable
Decrease use of color (color does not print well
on many printers)
Remove button bar on printer friendly view
White text prints in light grey, not black
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After
Feedback of what You are viewing
Use font weight/ Styles to make Things easier to
Distinguish rather Than color for printing
Use dashes in student number
Using borders will make sections easier to
distinguish than using backgrounds which do not
usually print
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Before After
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Default View Before Scrolling
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After Scrolling
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usage statistics we obtained from studentlinks
website
8th week winter quarter usage
this entire quarter (winter) since the first of
jan.
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What Was Our Point?

• People look at next quarters schedule of classes
  more than this quarter on studentlink
• studentlinks statistics prove it
• the next quarter should be the default
• its not even an option till the middle of the
  quarter anyway

31
Conclusion
Even though studentlink is not poorly designed,
there is still much room for improvement.