Usability Analysis in Practice: Assessment for Redesign of the School of Information & Library Science Web Site.

by Carroll, Matthew E.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) web site has existed in its current form for almost three years while web design has evolved from more simple design practices of the late 1990’s, leaving the current web site dated in terms of usability and visual design. The current SILS web site draws verbal complaints from many users although little qualitative data and no concrete quantitative data has been collected regarding problems with the current site, or any previous iteration of the SILS web site.

This usability study was designed to analyze the current site and identify major issues so that a more user-centric site may be developed to replace the current one. As well, it will for the first time record quantitative data on the SILS web site and establish benchmark measures that future iterative designs can be compared against. This study was designed along the guidelines of two major usability experts - Jeffrey Rubin and Jakob Nielsen - to be a quick, inexpensive and effective method of evaluating a web site design.