# Presentation: 071724

**NASA Usability, Design Feedback, and IA  **
**02/26/2003**

## Agenda

- Usability Testing
- Background
- Findings Review
- Next Steps
- NASA Commentary
- Background
- Findings Review
- Next Steps
- Information Architecture
- Background
- Architecture Review
- Next Steps

## Usability Testing - Background

- Testing Objectives included:
- Determine what information users are looking for
- Understand what tasks users expect to perform
- Gather initial impressions of the homepages
- Ensure labels and navigation are intuitive
- Identify missing information or features
- Locate, identify, and explore trouble spots to understand and remedy them
- Gather feedback and responses to validate design strategy, process flow, intuitive level of navigation, and level of content

## Usability Testing – Methodology (How)

- Critical Mass and Usability Sciences developed a set of tasks which users were directed to complete
- The tasks, created for both the NASA February Launch site and PDR site, were designed to compare common features and explore the key components of the sites
- The tasks were used as a guide for participants to perform activities on the various areas of the site and to provide feedback.
- In addition to the standard tasks all users performed, users visited specific areas of the site depending on their audience definition
- Participants maintained ongoing dialogue with the Usability Analyst and voiced opinions regarding the sites’ navigation, intuitiveness, functionality, content, and specific usability concerns.

## Usability Testing – Audience (Who)

- Audience Experience/Interest
- Mix of users who had and had not previously visited NASA.gov
- Mix of interest level in NASA and space
- Audience Demographic Breakdown
- Equal mix of male and female users
- 5 Kids - Ages 8-12
- 6 Students - 2 Middle School, 2 High School, 2 University
- 6 Educators - 2 General Educators, 2 Elementary, 2 University
- 5 Press & Media Users
- 5 General Population Users

## Usability Testing – Issues Reviewed (What) 

- Concepts Tested for Both the February Launch and PDR Sites:
- Homepage layout and content
- Main menu categories
- Segmentation categories
- Search
- Navigation
- Additional Concepts Tested for February Launch Site:
- Flash introductory video
- Additional Concepts Tested for PDR Site:
- ‘MyOneNASA’
- Advanced search
- Sub-search (a.k.a. ‘Local Search’)

## Usability Testing –Findings 

- 1

- 2

- 3

- 4

- 5

- 7

- 6

- 6.1

- 5.5

- Initial impression of home page

- Look and feel of home page

- Features and info on home page

- Average rating

- 6.0

- 5.4

- 6.2

- 5.9

- 6.1

- 5.6

- 1 = Extremely Dissatisfied

- 7 = Extremely Satisfied

- PDR

- Current NASA.gov

## Usability Testing –Findings 

- Overall participants reported a positive experience with both sites, although they favored the PDR:
- PDR appeared to offer more information and features
- PDR organization and layout was easier for to understand
- Users liked the Sub-categories offered within specific segment pages of PDR
- Selectable grade levels in students navigation helped understanding
- PDR personalization was seen as valuable
- Users liked the larger font, use of color, animation, and organization of the ‘for Kids’ page

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Flash Introduction Issues
- Most of the press & media, educators, and general public skipped the intro in order to quickly get into the site
- Almost all of the kids, middle school students and high school students liked the intro video
- Many users indicated that they did not have a sense of how long the intro was
- Several of the educators either overlooked the ‘visit the Educator Astronaut site’ link or were unsure what it meant
- Some users clicked the ‘Visit the Educator Astronaut site’ link, and were confused regarding where they were and what they were viewing.

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Flash Introduction Recommendations
- Reposition the intro as a multimedia feature on Kids, Students, and Educator landing pages
- Consider including it as a feature in the Flash banner on the home page
- Consider creating variations of  this video that are more audience specific
- Consider adding a playhead or status bar to show the duration of the video

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Banner Issues
- Some users felt the graphics disappeared too quickly
- Users were unsure how to use the ‘1,2,3’ options
- Banner Recommendation
- We are making the 1, 2, 3 larger and clickable
- The entire images will be clickable
- Animation speed may be slowed down

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Labels / Navigation Headers Issues
- Users were unclear what some of the main navigation labels meant
- Labels / Navigation Headers Issues
- Revise labels where appropriate
- Make use of ‘alt tags’ to provide some descriptions where necessary

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- NASA Vision Bucket Issues
- On Feb Site - The titles ‘Improve Life Here’, ‘Extend Life to There’, and ‘Find Life Beyond’ were confusing to several users
- NASA Vision Bucket Recommendations
- When these users viewed the PDR site, they stated that the titles for the three main topics were more easily understood

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Left / Sub Nav Issues
- Many users did not notice the gray sub-navigation menus located on the left-hand side of the page
- Some users were confused that they could not click on the first link within the sub-navigation menu.
- Left / Sub Nav Recommendations
- We will address this on the redesign. Though it is important for users to notice the navigation, the priority still is the featured content on the pages.

## Usability Testing – Findings 

**Features Issues**
- Many of the users were disappointed by the content of the featured article, as they felt that the article “stopped”
- A few users commented that they did not fully understand all of the verbiage used within the article
- A few of the users stated that they did not like the layout of the featured articles.  They wanted these articles to contain more graphics, and appear less “technical”
- One user commented that the articles required too much unnecessary scrolling
**Features Recommendations**
- Provide related links to additional information
- Provide a glossary feature to understand the meaning of some of the words used within the article
- Explore the feasibility of implementing a page-break strategy

## Usability Testing – Findings 

**Search Issues**
- Some users felt that articles were irrelevant based on the keywords they searched on – results were too broad
- Some users felt overwhelmed by the number of results
- Users were confused by the ‘returned’, ‘hits’, and ‘total’ counts displayed
- Users felt there should be more options for navigating search results pages beyond ‘next’ and ‘previous’
**Local search**
- Some users did not understand the local search feature on the PDR
- The sub-search feature was seen as highly useful but not obvious to many users

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Search Recommendations
- Add  method of accessing pages which are several pages in front or behind the current page
- Scrutinize search UI in detail
- Local search
- Consider color and layout of sub-search in UI design revisions

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- My NASA Issues
- Overall - High user interest
- Some users did not understand the ‘OneNASA’ label
- The term ‘Channel’ was unfamiliar and unclear to a few users.
- My NASA Recommendations
- Refine current strategy
- My OneNASA label changing to MyNASA
- Finalize user path and interaction strategy for MyNASA
- Currently exploring alternate label options to address ‘channel’ confusion

## Usability Testing – Findings 

- Content Requests / General Feedback Issues
- Users seem to want an easier way to find Mission information in a more chronological fashion
- A Press & Media user mentioned that he expected to find a listing of contacts
- Many users noticed the ‘NASA Fact’ presented throughout the site, but expected more from it
- One user (post secondary educator) suggested that he would like to see more sophisticated topics
- Include the department and email address for each contact in the ‘Media Contact’ area
- Click on a ‘NASA Fact’ to view a more detailed “facts” section

## Usability Testing – Next Steps 

- Critical Mass to forward full usability testing results as well as specific recommendations for each result along to NASA
- Critical Mass requests any NASA usability comments be forwarded to CM by Friday EOD

## NASA Feedback – Background

- NASA provided Critical Mass with some navigation, content, and general UI design comments
- CM reviewed these in parallel with usability feedback

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Font size and color Issues
- The font sizes cannot be changed and are small  - probable 508 compliance issue
- Gray type used for photo captions is not easily read
- Graphics that contain type need to be large enough to be legible
- Font size and color Recommendation
- 508 compliance is specifically addressed in the Low Bandwidth version
- Consider allowing fonts to be resizable
- Reconsider gray type, make it darker. Ensure that photo credits are presented differently than article content

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Site header Issues
- Gray banner across the top is neither visually interesting or functional; it is a waste of space
- The bottom banner is a great space to add "get back"  or "Back to top" navigation
- In looking at the affinity level one that is presented, the gray seems rather dominant, could this be variable?
- Site header Recommendations
- Gray bar is intended to establishes the NASA identity, allow for persistent search navigation, and remain neutral enough that it doesn’t compete with featured content below
- ‘Back to top’ anchors are a good idea - it might also be a recommendation to limit the length of pages or introduce a page linking strategy

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Featured content Issues
- Content below the fold, though changing on a daily basis may be devalued. i.e. New Features
- Worthy, interesting topics not highlighted in the Flash Banner will be effectively buried by the layout
- Colored backgrounds may call out key content better
- On each Landing page, make one of the feature stories stand out more the others. Just link to the rest.

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Featured content Recommendations
- User feedback confirmed that the UI design is highly successful in meeting expectations
- Content priority is determined by NASA with consideration for user feedback. Since importance varies by user, the audience segmentation is prominent. Other high priority content is included in the rotating banner, and the Search feature.
- Other features are positioned appropriately on the home page based on priority, however not everything can be highlighted in the UI or nothing will stand out
- On Secondary pages, prioritized content is located at the top in the 2 feature promotional banners. Images and related media will help make the content more compelling

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Rotating Flash Banner  issues
- The rotating image is difficult to use. Numbers aren’t clickable. Numbers too small.
- Recommendation
- As per usability recommendations, text will be linkable, navigation numbers larger, and image rotation could be slowed down

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Navigation Issues
- ‘Bread Crumb’ navigation may help guide users through content more easily
- Navigation Recommendations
- When considering breadcrumb, we noted that content is mainly limited to 3 levels (Home  >Section Page  >Feature Article), or it is often linked to a new new window after three levels.
- When tested, users were able to determine where they were within the site and how to get back to previous pages
- It was noted that many people prefer to use the browser back button.

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Suggestion
- Make the large promo banner inside specific sections be a rotating Flash promo (as on the home page)
- Recommendations
- Flash banners inside sections are a good way to feature content. They could rotate features or use flash to promote a single feature.
- These will need to designed and constructed in a way that is appropriate to the audience and content as well as being considerate of the forthcoming NASA.gov Design Standards.

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Suggestions to UI Design
- Add more curves to the design. The site looks very stark and hard.
- Consider revising colors
- Recommendations
- Introducing another type of visual language to the pages that contain a lot of information and strong organizational structure would not assist users in understanding the site
- Colors chosen for the home page reflect the NASA identity and also reference the American flag
- Very positive user feedback and response to UI design , any changes should be directed towards addressing specific usability concerns or changes in strategic direction

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Suggestion
- Upon entry into the secondary pages, there is extreme NASA overload
- Remove some of the features and news links.  Adding white space will give the site a cleaner look and a  more sophisticated appearance.
- Recommendations
- There will be a lot of information in this site as this is the nature of a portal - Information is organized into features with short descriptions that are easy to scan
- User input suggested that more information is beneficial as long as it can be understood

## NASA Feedback – Findings

- Suggestion
- Create a consistent style for photo credits
- Make photo credits easier to read
- Recommendations
- Consider using a darker gray color or another variation to existing style sheets
- Ensure photo credits are separated from the main article content

## NASA Feedback – Next Steps 

- Critical Mass to forward list of NASA commentary to NASA along with associated recommendations
- Critical Mass requests any follow up NASA feedback be forwarded to CM by Friday EOD

## Information Architecture Review – Background 

- Comments

## Information Architecture Review – Recommendations 

- Review of high level Information Architecture document

## Information Architecture Review – Next Steps 

- Next Steps:
- Review proposed structural feedback based on results obtained in usability testing
- Obtain feedback and confirmation that we can move ahead with changes
- Begin process of scrutinizing sub navigation buckets
- Finalize user interactions in ‘MyNASA’ and ‘Search’ areas of nasa.gov
- Apply changes to UI Design