Hi!!!!! I’m working on my final capstone presentation and poster, but usability testing is still ongoing. I’ve had a few friends online play with the “complete” website, and observed one friend in person. Hopefully, I can drag some family members into testing over the holiday weekend.
To summarize the results:
Importantly, was able to successfully find & use the /explore page give my task of “Find a location that has both bird-watching and panoramic views.”
Importantly, was able to successfully find & use the /suggest page given my task of “Use the website to contact me to tell me to add the Boston Public Garden.”
On the /suggest page, he was annoyed that when he omitted a required field, he had to enter everything all over again. (I have since fixed this! The form now remembers old input.)
I observed something he didn’t while watching -- He picked a marker, then clicked on “Get Directions.” It did what it’s supposed to -- went to that hike’s page and to the directions form anchor. However, I realized that he clicked the marker for a hike that had multiple entrances (Charles River Reservation), but the directions form by default was on the main entrance, not the one he’d just clicked. He had clicked the JFK Park marker, but the default entrance is the Esplanade. He didn’t really notice or care since we wasn’t actually USING it, just playing with it. I should 1) fix this and 2) test a scenario to make sure that users understand that they can select a different entrance.
“This is really user-friendly,” he said out loud, possibly because Ryan is just super nice like that.
'i noticed one thing (not sure if its supposed to be this way) but when i clicked some options and searched, it would show me the selections that fit my requirements and i clicked on one of them (the links on the right hand side of the page) and when i went BACK it took me to the wide view map with every option available instead of just the options that fit my requirements'
It makes sense that the site wouldn’t “remember” Teresa’s selections on the homepage because it’s done entirely with Javascript. I would have to create a cookie to have this “remembered.”
Importantly, was able to successfully find & use the /explore page give my task of “Find a location that has both bird-watching and panoramic views.”
On the "suggest" page, Tommy didn't include http:// in the URL so the form wouldn't validate. I have added a “fix” so that the http:// value is already in there. So, he wasn’t able to complete the task.
Importantly, was able to successfully find & use the /explore page give my task of “Find a location that has both bird-watching and panoramic views.”
'Is there a way to make embedded Google maps responsive to the GPS location of a user if they're on a smartphone? Not sure if that's something they allow, but it would be a really neat feature for browsing the pins on the map, rather than a user entering in their address - particularly if they're a visitor or are just wandering about the city and aren't 100% sure of a street address or starting location.' Given this, I’m considering either implementing automatic geolocation or Google’s Place Autocomplete.
‘Not sure if this is just me still figuring out my new phone or not, but having the X out of the Description box before the site allowed me to scroll down in the Suggest a Park page took me a couple seconds before I realized what was going on. If there's a way to to avoid doing that (it may be unclear to some if the "X" in the corner is simply a "close out of this field" X or a "delete everything in your box" X), I think it'd be great.' She was using the Chrome browser on a mobile device. I will have to download the Chrome app on my phone to recreate her experience and see what can be done if anything.
Importantly, was able to successfully find & use the /suggest page given my task: “You have noticed that I have overlooked one of Boston's greatest gems, Fart Park (which I just made up). You really need to contact me to tell me about this awesome place to go hiking called Fart Park at 100 Toot Street. It's right on top of a T stop! Using this website, how do you think you would you do that?”
You can check out my quick ‘n dirty usability test form here.