Too many clicks...

June 20, 2005
http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/news/story/0,12891,1510686,00.html

Also includes top best and worst of UK university sites.
Excerpts...
Too many clicks and you've lost them. Nowhere is the culture clash between today's sixth formers and the universities trying to recruit them greater than in academic websites....... Students were given exactly a minute to find some specific information, such as the name of the vice-chancellor (a slightly bizarre test, you might think, as 99% of students go through their entire degrees without knowing the name of the vice-chancellor); information on fees and bursaries; and something about the local area. This test threw up a bigger variation between sites. "Many were far too busy with too much to take in at one time - too many menus. 'Messy' was the most frequent criticism. Many sites had a dull and heavy feel.

Some ideas about usability

I saw this poster on the Usability Professionals Assocication web site that addressed designing for usability:

“Designing the User Experience” on the Usability Professionals Assn Web site.

http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/ux_poster.html

I took the elements from the poster and put them into a word document for consultation when we are planning the redesign. The document is at
http://insideirt.austincc.edu/library/lweb/redesign/usability-poster.doc

Online User Experience Study

Compliments of Jeanette Mosey email

http://www.online-publishers.org/?pg=press&dt=060105
A new study by the Online Publishers Association has found that an experience that "entertains and absorbs me" is the top driver of Web site usage.The research project, the Online User Experience Study conducted in partnership with Northwestern University, identified 22 experiences that describe and define how people interact with and relate to digital media. It also determined how each of those specific experiences impacts site usage[]from OCLC ABSTRACTS - June 6, 2005 (Vol. 8, Issue 23)