Mission Accomplished: Usability Series 1

After a long month of no updates to the RRN pilot site, we have finally finished the first round of our usability tests. Astrid, Tristan and I asked anyone we could to complete our Usability task list with the RRN, and we've found a ton of interesting data.

For example, most users do not read a majority of the text that is on the site, especially when it is on the middle, or the right hand side of the page. They also look for buttons, or links that look "clickable" and don't pay attention to words that don't have this quality.

Most users have trouble finding and using the storage box - this is a huge problem for us. The storage box leads you to make a collection and collaborate with other users. This is a main focus for the RRN - and if our users can't do it then we have a serious problem.

Another issue we're dealing with, and which came up in our usability studies, is that some of the text on the site is unclear and not inclusive. This basically means the words we're using are inaccessible and need to be changed. It's not about simplification, it's about presenting information in a perspicuous - uhh....I mean clear - way. One professor of mine always said that the best writers, be they academic, popular or otherwise, are ones that say what they mean. I think many writers/researchers can be guilty of unclear and inaccessible language use, and I do this constantly. User studies have taught us better - and we'll do our best to keep the RRN as accessible as possible.

These tests would mean nothing if we didn't have our dedicated software developers who work 24/7 on developing the RRN. They've taken our suggestions and data and turned it into a new version of the RRN that is even better than the last. Keep a lookout because next week we launch the new version, which will hopefully be more usable than ever. We also have a fabulous new help guide designed by yours truly and Jamie Cooper, our technical writer. And it has some pretty new colours - just saying.

We'll be launching a new user testing series soon after the new version is up to test our changes to the site and see if any of our modifications actually worked.

Well that's pretty much all the news for now, except on Sunday night some of our community liaisons and I head up to the Coast Salish Gathering in Whistler, BC.

I'll post next week from a mountain. No big deal.

-Hannah