Mr. Everett

Homework Due: None. Great job on your banners! I'll have scores for you soon!

1. Change gears and start Unit 5: Usability. It is imperative we, as designers, have a clear image of how our target audience utilizes our web sites. We need to monitor the use and experience of users. These are called usability tests.
2. Explore and gain background on usability testing. Read instructions for Unit 5, Module 1, Lesson 1, and read Usability 101.
3. Identify a web site of your own choosing and pick 3 things you would do to watch a user at that web site. You should also have a clear idea of the demographic that web site is targeting (teens, males, elderly, sports conscious?) and then create three tasks you would have someone do on that web site. (For example, let's say you choose www.miniusa.com. (Strange, huh?) Then, when at miniusa.com, what three things would you have a user do? 1. Look for and buy a Mini Cooper S baseball hat. 2. Configure a convertible, right down to the seat covers, paint, and tachometer. 3. Find a dealer in Georgia - or at least the closest one. In fact, everyone should do these three things listed above.
4. If I were there, I would be watching you go through the tasks I had given you for the miniusa.com web site. I would record what you did. I would not give you advice or explain where you need to go. I wouldn't even talk to you - and it wouldn't even be personal. If you were successful in the first task, the first time, then I would record that. If you struggled and had to take a long time to find the apparel and purchase the had, I would record that. I would be getting valuable information about how useable the site was. After doing the three tasks for miniusa.com, what did you discover? Provide feedback, please!
5. Now, you are going to do the same thing. Identify your web site, your three tasks (don't make them obscure!), and record them on a Word document. Next, your teacher will coordinate a group and a progression for testing and providing feedback for each of your web sites. If it takes anyone in your group longer than 2 minutes to get going on any given task, have them move on to the next task. Otherwise, we'll drag this thing on for days!

Homework Due: Let's check back on the usability process....

1. Continue working with your groups to check the usability of your chosen web sites.
2. Take your data and create a report as fashioned toward the end of the lesson as it is written on Module 1, Lesson 1. You are then to post your report in a new portfolio page for unit 5. Make certain you link it to your index page also!
3. Move on to Module 1, Lesson 2. It's time to create a navigation sequence for your portfolio pages. You'll create a set of buttons and identify what the buttons will be named so that anyone using your site will intuitively know where to go to accomplish tasks linked to your site. This will require a bit of planning and consideration. Talk it over with the team you were just in. What you think will be intuitive for someone else may be obscure to them. There is a danger of making things too difficult, as often occurs when someone close to a project misses details because they are right in front of them!

Homework Due: Let's check back on the usability process....

1. Explain what usability is and what it is for - and how it applies to the sites you design. Also, what does it mean for your own portfolio site?
2. Complete the report on usability - Take your data and create a report as fashioned toward the end of the lesson as it is written on Module 1, Lesson 1. You are then to post your report in a new portfolio page for unit 5. Make certain you link it to your index page also! You also need to ensure that the rest of your portfolio (including the new Unit 5 page) matches the rest of your portfolio.
3. Move on to Module 1, Lesson 2. It's time to create a navigation sequence for your portfolio pages. You'll create a set of buttons and identify what the buttons will be named so that anyone using your site will intuitively know where to go to accomplish tasks linked to your site. This will require a bit of planning and consideration. Talk it over with the team you were just in. What you think will be intuitive for someone else may be obscure to them. There is a danger of making things too difficult, as often occurs when someone close to a project misses details because they are right in front of them! You also want to consider the design elements. Above the fold? Consistent placement of buttons? (Note: Some of you were confused with the code to put an image on your web page. If that's the case, ask each other! Also, check out htmlgoodies.com.)