Assessment item 2

Evaluation of User Interfaces

Value:20%

Due date:12-Apr-2015

Return date:03-May-2015

Length: 2,000 words

Submission method options

EASTS (online)

Task

You have been engaged to provide an expert review of therealestate.com.au site.

The realestate.com.au allows users to search, select and view properties for sale within Australia. The site displays properties from most real estate agents within an area and can generally be used to discover possible properties for inspection and purchase within a specified suburb or area.

The site allows a user to search for properties using a number of different criteria, such as location and type of property, but also allows a user to set a range for the price and the number of bedrooms that they require.

Task:
You are to provide an expert review using the Usability Heuristic that you developed in the first Assignment. As part of your review you are to make specific reference to the site’s use of:

• Navigational features;
• Graphics;
• Colour schemes;
• Themes;
• Hyperlinks.

Your expert review should also examine the usability of the site. You are to make specific reference to:

• The organisation and consistency of information;
• Navigation; and
• Searching the site for specific information.

Your review should consider these specific elements and comment on their use and appropriateness on as part of the overall design of that website.

As part of your review, you must also seek the opinions of three (3) users of that site. These users may be family, friends or colleagues, but MUST NOT include other students enrolled in this subject. You need to prepare a simple questionnaire for these users to complete so that you can determine how effectively they can use the site. The questionnaire is to be based on the following scenario:

You have invited a friend to dinner for next Saturday night. You know that she and her family are interested in buying property in the Bathurst area that is reasonably close to the town centre, schools and the University.

Your friend’s requirements for a property are:

• Purchase price up to $395,000;
• Minimum of three (3) bedrooms, preferably with ensuite bathroom attached to the master bedroom;
• Separate home office;
• Minimum of one (1) bathroom;
• Parking for two (2) cars;
• Large private garden;
• Located close (

You, and your users, need to be able to:

1. Search for and locate at least three (3) properties that meet all the criteria on the site;
2. Create a list of properties in order of the properties that are closest to the stated requirements;

You must ensure that all survey participants have to check for the same information.

Your survey questionnaire should be included in your report as an appendix.

You should discuss the findings of your user survey as well as any recommendations for changes to the interface as a result of your review. You should also discuss how any suggested changes will improve the usability of the news site interface.

Your review is to be submitted in a report using the following headings:

• Executive Summary. This is a summary of your overall report. This section should be about one page in length.
• Description of the User Interface. This should be a brief (about ½ page) description of the UI and how it works.
• Review of the User Interface for Usability. This is the body of your report and you should discuss the usability of the site, its issues and good points. This should be about two to three pages in length.
• User survey findings. Here you need to discuss how your users reacted to the site and the tasks that they were asked to do. DO NOTidentify your users. This should be about two pages in length.
• UI improvements and recommendations. This is the final section where you need to discuss (about 1 page):
1. Any the improvements that can be made to the site, along with the reasons for these improvements.
2. A series of recommended actions in order of priority and why each item has that priority.
• Appendix – Survey questions. Here you need to list the survey questions that you asked your users. DO NOTinclude the users’ answers.

Rationale

This assignment covers the following objectives of this subject:

• be able to list and explain the importance of the principles of design in relation to the design of an interface;
• be able to evaluate an interface to determine its effective usability and identify enhancements for improvement;
• be able to design a set of appropriate usability tests for a given interface;
• be able to interpret and evaluate usability testing results to plan interface improvements.

Marking criteria

Criteria	Marks
Executive Summary	10
Description of the existing UI	15
Review of UI Usability	25
User Survey Findings	15
Discuss UI Improvements	15
Discuss UI priority	10
Survey Questions	10
Total marks	100
Deduct marks for poor presentation, spelling and grammar	-5
Deduct marks for poor or no APA referencing	-5

Question	HD	D	C	P	F
Executive Summary	Comprehensive and succinct summary of the report with excellent choice of examples	Thorough summary of the report with good examples	Good summary of the report with some examples	Adequate summary of the report	Incomplete or irrelevant summary of the report
Description of existing UI	Comprehensive description of the UI including: • Good and bad design • UI navigation issues • Use of hyperlinks With excellent illustration of examples	Thorough description of the UI including: • Good and bad design • UI navigation issues • Use of hyperlinks With some clear illustration of examples	Detailed description of the UI including: • Good and bad design • UI navigation & issues • Use of hyperlinks With some illustration of examples	Adequate description of the UI including: • Good and bad design • UI navigation & issues • Use of hyperlinks	Incomplete or irrelevant description of the UI
Review of UI Usability	Comprehensive description and assessment of the UI usability, with excellent illustration of examples, including: • Guidelines used • How is the site usable • References	Thorough and succinct description and assessment of the UI usability with some illustrative examples, including: • Guidelines used • How is the site usable • References	Detailed description and assessment of the UI usability with some examples, including: • Guidelines used • How is the site usable • References	Adequate description and assessment of the UI usability with some discussion of the usability, including: • Guidelines used • How is the site usable • References	Incomplete or irrelevant description and assessment of the UI usability
User Survey Findings	Comprehensive analysis of user survey findings with excellent examples	Detailed analysis of user survey findings with some examples	Good description of user survey findings with some analysis	Adequate description of user survey findings	Incomplete or irrelevant discussion of user survey findings
Discuss UI Improvements	Comprehensive discussion of identified UI changes with clear illustration of how the changes will improve the UI • References	Thorough discussion of identified UI changes with some illustration of how the changes will improve the UI • References	Detailed discussion of identified UI changes with detailed discussion of how the changes will improve the UI • References	Adequate discussion of identified UI changes with some discussion of how the changes will improve the UI • No references	Incomplete or inadequate discussion of some UI changes with no clear illustration of how the changes will improve the UI
Survey Questions	Comprehensive set of user survey questions that cover the heuristics well	Thorough set of user survey questions that cover the heuristics	Detailed set of user survey questions that cover most of the heuristics	Adequate set of user survey questions that cover most of the heuristics	Incomplete or irrelevant set of user survey questions
Presentation, grammar and spelling (-5 marks)	Marks will be deducted for poor presentation, spelling and grammar mistakes. Note please follow the given report format in Subject Outline for this assessment
APA referencing (-5 marks)	Marks will be deducted for not providing / following the proper APA style referencing. Note that the guide for APA referencing is provided in the Resource section of Interact site.