Introduction and preface

• Introduction
• Preface
  • Words and terms used in this book
  • Thanks and acknowledgements

Part One Understanding user interfaces and how users use web sites

• User interfaces
• User interfaces on the internet
• Chapter One: Usability gains for companies, developers and managers
  • Characteristics of a usable system
  • Characteristics of a user experience
  • Why spend money and use resources on usability in a web project?
  • What usability can do for you clearly depends on who you are
  • What is the return on investment of usability?
• Chapter Two: Usability in the web development project
  • Prior to project start
  • While preparing the requirement specification
  • In the course of the development project
  • Late in the development project - pre-launch
  • When the web site is live - after launch
• Chapter Three Usability in the users' experience of the web site
  • The user's need to go to the web site
  • Reaching the web site through a search engine
  • The user's ways to a web site
  • The user's way onto the web site
  • The user's browser and operating systems
  • Examples of browser and platform combinations
  • The user's way around the web site
  • How do users exit the web site?
  • How do the users enter again at their next visit?
• Chapter Four Usability strategy
  • Know your target group
  • Yes, but my web site targets all users!
    • When you have several and very different sub-target groups
    • When your target group is made up of citizens
    • When your target group consists of customers
    • When your target group is made up of your colleagues
    • Who is the user group?
  • Accessibility for disabled users
  • Plan for a usable web site
  • Organise for a usable web site
  • In-house usability work must be firmly anchored in the organisation
  • Set up a usability strategy
  • The strategy must stand on both legs
  • See the web site strategy in light of the company strategy
  • Know your user's context and situation

Part Two: The usability toolbox

• Tool number one: Planning the online user experience
  • Test your ideas and concepts first
  • From concept to design: Requirement specification
  • From requirement specification to design
  • "This napkin is a prototype of my new web site"
  • Testing the visual design in a group interview
  • Test the information architecture
  • Test the visual design carefully
  • Test the functions thoroughly
  • Launch testing
  • Post-launch testing
• Tool number two: Standards and heuristics but no users
  • Heuristic inspection
  • Standards and recommendations
  • Consistency - a standard set up by the web site itself
  • Guidelines and expert recommendations
  • ISO - 9241-11
• Tool number three: Qualitative interviews and studies
  • Field studies
  • Interviews
  • Collect souvenirs
  • Create model users or personas
  • A focus group is a group interview
  • Introduction of a focus group
  • Course of the focus group
  • Mixed form of focus group and workshop
  • User workshop
  • Web managers' profit from user workshops
• Tool number four: Usability testing
  • Testing a prototype
  • Using your test person's imagination
  • Setting up the best test environment
  • Limits to the imagination
  • Test checklist
    • Before the test
    • Before the first test person arrives
    • Once the test person has arrived
    • After the test person has left
    • After the last test person has left
  • Activities to take place during the test
    • Balancing user tasks and web site intentions
    • Test tasks should reflect real situations
    • Order of test tasks
    • The thinking-aloud method
    • Query techniques
    • Note-taking techniques
    • Should tests be recorded?
    • If a test has to be recorded
    • Who needs a usability lab?
    • What goes in a usability lab?
  • After a test
    • Report
    • Evaluation meeting
  • Analysing the test events
    • Test persons may say one thing and do another
    • Sample content
    • Rules-of-thumb list on sample content
  • Card sorting
    • Testing the information architecture
  • Remote tests
    • Telephone testing
  • Recruiting participants for tests, focus groups and workshops
    • Who should be invited as participants?
    • How many should be asked?
    • How are participants found?
    • Avoid using participants who are acquaintances of the test leader (and vice versa)
    • The importance of the spoken language in an interview
    • Roles during the study
• Tool number five: Online surveys
  • Asking the right kind of questions
  • Entry or exit surveys - or both
  • "Who answers these surveys - I never do"
  • Data mining the survey results
• Tool number six: Website load time monitoring
  • How to reduce web page sizes?
• Tool number seven: Log file analysis or traffic analysis
  • Data mining
  • A closer look at a couple of lines from a web server log
  • Domain Names on the Internet
  • User behaviour on search engines
• Tool number eight: Tracking user behaviour on the website
  • Tracking the users' behaviour to determine conversion rates

Part Three: Putting it all together - Designing and implementing an integrated usability plan

• Example One: Setting a usability strategy - and evaluating it
  • Case history
  • Getting from version 1 to version 2: Pre-strategy analysis in four parts
  • Part One - Traffic analysis
  • Results of the log file analysis
  • Part Two - Usability test of version 1
  • Part Three - Expert workshop
  • Part Four - User workshop
  • Usability requirement specification
  • Usability testing of prototype 2
  • Usability testing of version 2
    • Acceptance test of version 2
  • Post launch testing the usability requirements
    • Post launch testing part one: remote usability test
    • Feature significance and implementation quality rating
    • Post launch testing part two: usability test
    • Post launch testing part three: Survey
• Example Two: User-centred web development
  • Background
  • Usability work
    • 1. Field studies in three municipalities
    • 2. Three user workshops
    • 3. 'Remote Testing' with twenty four test persons in three rounds
    • 4. Interactive workshop
    • 5. Usability testing

Part Four: Expanding the toolbox from web to i-TV

• About interactive TV
• Designing i-TV studies
• Workshops and focus groups about concept sketches and prototype drafts
• Thinking aloud about a prototype or a running program
• An example - testing interactive World Cup services

Part Five: Expanding the toolbox to mobile services and devices

• Designing mobile services
  • Location based services
• Mobile users - using mobile services
• Example One: Just what the World needs - a new mobile service?
  • Users' concerns about being mobile
  • Different markets - different demands for mobiles and mobile service
  • Mature users' wish for media convergence towards the mobile
• Example Two: Marketing mobile services to business users
• Example Three: Great mobile services, but where are they?
  • First problem: getting to the new services.
  • Next problem: using the new services or, once you're there, then what?
• Comparing mobile services to web and i-TV services

Appendix: Usability testing at a glance

• Read more about web usability and web usability work
• Online resources
• Books and articles