Planning your way to a more usable web site
Gore, Pamela, Sandra Goldstein Hirsh · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · 2003
Planning for long-term periodic usability assessment is therefore as important as adding regularly fresh content and tracking usage. Fortunately, usability assessments need not be time consuming or expensive, unless your site is large and complex and you want to test it thoroughly each time. In a practical sense, usability assessment can reveal problems in the design, navigation, layout, or labeling that prevent users from finding what they need quickly. After analyzing your environment and setting the stage for ongoing usability assessment, it is time to develop the usability assessment plan, which will serve as the blueprint for usability assessment activities and how these activities relate to the Web design process. Key components include: 1. goals and objectives, 2. target population, 3. type of assessment, 4. frequency, 5. test environment/equipment requirements, and 6. results and recommendations.