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This is a quick usabilty review of the website for Grassroots.org. |
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Congratulations! This is a free usability
review from UsabilityInstitute.com. "Usability" refers
to how easy and effective it is to use a Web site. Although
it involves how a site looks (graphic artwork), it is primarily
concerned with how a site works, what you click on, what happens,
and whether the site does its job.
The following three sections provide a general
analysis of your website from a relatively quick review. Although
Web design is still perceived as a highly creative endeavor,
there are many aspects of it that call for standardization
and compliance with widely established conventions. Implementing
even a few of the ideas below can really improve a site.
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This
first section is intended for typical public web sites
(for products and corporate information), but also applies
for the most part to intranets and software applications
that run in a browser. We've been advocating many of
these ideas—in the context of general software—since
our 1997 book,
Computers Stink, but they've been beautifully
enumerated for WWW purposes in Steve Krug's book, "Don't
Make Me Think." |
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Click
for explanation |
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Hover
for explanation
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Comments |
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1. |
Logo
in top left, linked to home |
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It's there but not
linked. |
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2. |
Tagline |
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Yes, but I wonder
if it's too figurative, not explicit enough. AHA... after
reviewing the site for 1/2 hour I see the thing that SHOULD
be the tagline: your "title" tag text: "Free
services for non-profits"!!! See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010722.html. |
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3. |
Welcome
blurb |
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Yes,
it's there: "The mission of Grassroots.org is..." but again
I wonder if visitors have to poke around to figure out
exactly what's in it for them: "One-stop shopping for non-profits
to find online resources and services... effecting positive
change through technology." |
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4. |
Plain
wording |
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Generally the site
is straight-shooting, but right there in the first sentence
is that phrase "leveraging modern technologies." |
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5. |
No
'happy talk' |
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6. |
Concise
wording |
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7. |
Visited
pages are distinguished by link color-coding |
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The
menu system shows that there are only about 15 pages, so
it's not a factor. |
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8. |
"Utilities" are
easy to find |
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Register
and login are the only utilities. I see a trend for login/password
boxes to appear right on the home page of almost every
site that has a secured side, so it's probably "the way
of the world" to put those two fields right there whenever
you do a rebuild. After all, it's all about members anyway...
they're not some sort of exception case, right? |
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9. |
Search
on all pages, with box and button |
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10. |
"You
Are Here" indicator |
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No. for instance,
when you are on "Partners" page, the Support top nav item
is not highlighted. |
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11. |
Breadcrumbs'
as links |
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Site
isn't complex enough to have them. |
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If you've made it this far, I have a free
gift for the first 100 visitors who
reply. If you know anyone who's learning to
read, email
me and I'll send you a free copy of a kid's
book I wrote. Please
include "Poopy
Phonics" in the subject
line so I have a chance of recovering it if
it goes to my spam folder. —Thanks,
Jack
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—No spam,
no emails, no private info given out—
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Do your hands ache after a day at the keyboard??? This review
sponsored by RSIRescue.com ...
Summation & Next Steps
Overall Rating: Strives
/ Survives
/ Thrives
Overall the site is excellent and its small
usability flaws are really not an issue. The main concern is
the presentation of the Sign Up features and making the rationale
more central on the home page.
Recommendations:
- In IE7 The big Sign Up Now graphic on the right is not
active where the text is!!! The user has to point to right
or left to get the "hand cursor" and click.
- The home page mission explains your mission but to the
layman is a peculiar unanswered question... how?
- Explain the benefits of joining right up front. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010722.html.
- Enlarge the word free in the Sign Up Now link. Perhaps
put the Sign Up link/image right at the bottom of the body
after the answer to "why join?"
- Fix the link on the Sign Up Now page that goes to that
same page. Look for similar problems.
- Change "click here" links to links that are simply the
noun clauses of the linked target page.
Hope this helps and let
me know what you think,
Jack Bellis, UsabilityInstitute.com
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