Usability Test for (Greek) Departments' Web Sites

Usability testing is a means of measuring how well people can use some human-made object such as a web page, a computer interface, a document, or a device. This study was carried out to perform usability study on three universities websites in order to know the ease with which users can obtain information on them. The websites tested are futy.edu.ng, futa.edu.ng and futonigeria.net. Twenty-two users from a university volunteered to participate in the study. The participants were given five tasks to perform on the three web sites under a close observation of observer to determine their efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction with the web sites. Questionnaires were also used to get the users’ demographic data, users’ satisfaction, overall performance and recommendation on the web sites. The results indicate that futa.edu.ng performed best in terms of users’ effectiveness and efficiency with the sites. Keywords: Website, WebPages, Usability, Users, internet

This study investigates the factors affecting the usability of university web portals in some Lebanese universities. The study is divided into two parts: A qualitative study done on 6 Lebanese Universities by distributing questionnaires to students with comparable fields of studies and with comparable level of computer literacy. The second part is an extended study applied on Beirut Arab University (BAU) web portal and is divided into two phases. In the first phase, a questionnaire is distributed to students, employees and faculty members of BAU, while in the second phase usability tests are conducted on the three types of users of BAU web portal. The Single Usability Metric (SUM) model is used as a single metric in order to measure the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of the web portal.

The aim of this research study was to evaluate the websites of Delta State Polytechnics, namely: Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro and Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku from the usability perspective. The importance of a website to an academic institution cannot be overemphasized. Websites play huge roles in the world rating of higher institutions, no wonder no Nigerian university is in the list of the best 3000 universities in the world according to webometrics report for 2011. If the status-quo is to be changed, then more Nigerian higher institutions need not only to build websites, but to also appraise the existing sites. Two online automated tools, namely: html toolbox and web page analyzer were used along with a questionnaire directed towards members of our research group. Tools were used to measure the websites internal attributes which cannot be perceived by users, such as html code error, download time, and size of html page. The questionnaire was developed and designed based on 23 usability criteria. Each category deals with one usability aspect. The results showed that the overall usability level of the studied Websites is acceptable. However, there are some weaknesses in some aspects of the design, interface, and performances. Suggestions were provided in the study to enhance the usability of these websites __________________________________________________________________________________________

The aim of this research study was to evaluate the websites of Jordan's universities from the usability perspective. Two online automated tools, namely: html toolbox and web page analyze were used along with a questionnaire directed towards users of these websites. Tools were used to measure the websites internal attributes which can not be perceived by users, such as html code error, download time, and size of html page. The questionnaire was developed and designed based on 23 usability criteria divided into 5 categories. Each category deals with one usability aspect. The results showed that the overall usability level of the studied Websites is acceptable. However, there are some weaknesses in some aspects of the design, interface, and performances. Suggestions are provided in the study to enhance the usability of these websites.

Isico 2013, 2013

Website becomes an integral part how people access information. Thus, it now becomes a challenge to develop a usable and effective website to meet users-needs. Good websites combine both two aspects: aesthetics and ease of use. Dikti.go.id site is one of very popular and highly accessed sites among Indonesian universities. It contains the latest news and information related to the organization of higher education in Indonesia such as policy and legislation, scholarship information, grant programs and many various academic competitions for universities. This paper presents the result of evaluation of the usability of the Dikti.go.id site which includes aspects of its effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction perception. Based on the data analysis, it shows that the effectiveness of the site is high but its level of success is low. This means that there are problems related to the essential way how users navigate the site. This, finally, makes the satisfaction perception of this site be not high enough.

International Journal of Internet and Distributed Systems, 2014

The usability of the web pages is assessed using some statistical models. Researchers argue that many usability results and recommendations lack empirical and experimental data. Universities web pages are chosen as subjects for this work. Series of experiments have been conducted to investigate into the usability and design of the universities web pages. Prototype web pages have been developed according to the structured methodologies of web pages design and development. Four universities web pages were evaluated together with the prototype web pages using a questionnaire which was designed according to the Human Computer Interactions (HCI) concepts. The data collected was analyzed using correlation and regression models. The correlation analysis showed that there were significant positive and negative correlations between many items. The regression analysis revealed that the most significant factors (items) that contributed to the best model of the universities web pages design and usability were: multimedia in the web pages, the web pages icons (alone) organization and design, and graphics attractiveness. The results showed some of the limitations of some heuristics used in conventional interface system design and proposed some additional heuristics in web pages design and usability.

2017

With the advent of the Internet, most of the academic institutions in the world are providing up-to-date information over their official websites. Nowadays it has been more concerned that the importance of the presence of information through websites to the public. Since web-based information sharing has become more popular and effective, it is required to focus on the usability of a website from the user’s viewpoint. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the usability of the official website of Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka under four main dimensions which are website content and organization , website navigation and links, user interface design and website performance. The questionnaire was designed and developed based on twenty usability criteria that are belong to the above four categories. A descriptive survey conducted and simple random sampling strategy employed to collect data from 194 undergraduates who have the domain knowledge about the usability of a web...

Science Journal of University of Zakho, 2019

Websites developed for an organisation, especially a university, always need maintenance and improvements to increase user satisfaction and to provide an environment that provides up-to-date information and services in efficient ways. Unfortunately, academic websites are often designed depended on the structure and objectives of an organisation, rather than on whether students, lecturers, and administrative staff find the website usable. This leaves the website users' needs and expectations unsatisfied. The University of Zakho (UoZ), a public university in the Kurdistan Regional Government, is developing its website to include most of the information required. However, the usability of this website still needs to be checked to know whether or not it satisfies users. This study employs a user-based method to get the rate of usability satisfaction from the perspective of students and academic staff, and it investigates whether the occupation has significant impacts on usability satisfaction. This method is achieved by using a Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory (WAMMI) questionnaire, which is including five factors: attractiveness, controllability, helpfulness, efficiency, and learnability. The study offers recommendations and suggestions to the UoZ web developers for improving the website during the maintenance period. Further, this study proposes ways to enhance the academic websites usability.

Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology Tojet, 2012

Web sites are emerging as a key component of an organization's survival in our ever globalizing competitive world. Usability of a web site has assumed a great deal of importance in terms of satisfying web site users' needs and expectations. The aim of the study is to evaluate and to explore the usability level of Namık Kemal University (NKU) website and provide guidance to develop better and more usable web sites. The research hypotheses have posed six different theoretical factors to be positively associated with website usability. The results have revealed that five of the six factors can positively and significantly affect the web site usability perceptions of NKU members. Results also revealed that some of the demographic factors tested, such as gender and web experience, have significant impacts on usability perceptions of individual users. Furthermore, the study also discusses the potential benefits of improved website usability on governance and proposes ways to improve the usability of websites.

2001

In this paper, a set of user-centered evaluation methods used to construct a richer conception of the audience of an online Modern Greek online course is presented. First an analysis of the design methodology employed in this specific case study is provided and then examples of how valuable usability information can be extracted from different user-center evaluation methods is presented. Conclusions, related to the analysis of the information obtained through the different evaluation methods and about the usability of the course, are also provided.