Evaluation Website Interface Using Heuristic Method
By: Lega Adilawati
Tags: Heuristic Evaluation, UX, Website Design, Case Study, Interface Design

I have a task to do for my mid exam on Human-Computer Interaction lecture last month. The lecturer wants us to make research in the form of a group. Because My Friend and I friend is still a beginner for doing research, we choose the most we can possibly do in a short time and the easiest method that we can find on google. So we found the Heuristic Method. As my lecturer said,

“ Heuristic Evaluation Method is the easiest way for evaluation design that you can do because you can just look at the design and make a checklist from general principles and produces an aggregate list of a potential problem.”

I think the behind story is done so let’s move to the core:

Home Page: Zenius.net

My team choosing Zenius website for being the object in this research. Zenius is an online education platform for elementary to high school students in Indonesia. The service is mostly like a tutoring student on academic lessons such a Math, English, Science, and Social for preparing the exam. for doing this research we should match the design with ten principles of the heuristic method.

1. Visibility of system status (feedback)

The system must always inform the user about what is happening.

Circle Running Status

The picture above shows circle running status as feedback to users when they want to sign in or sign up to the account.

feedback status for sign in is successfully

This image is an interface display after the user has successfully entered the sign on the Zenius site. From the two images, it can be concluded that the Zenius website has applied the first heuristic principle, which is to provide feedback to the user as clarity on the status of the process being run by the user.

2. Match Between System and The Real World

The system must speak according to the user’s language commonly used by users

Currently, the Zenius website is only available in Indonesian, perhaps this is because the target users of Zenius are Indonesian students. However, if you want to change the language you can use google translate help if you open a site using google chrome. Like the picture below.

the site is translated automatically if you use chrome browser

So, the Zenius website has applied the second principle, which is to match the system language according to the target users, namely Indonesian students. However, it may be necessary to develop to add language availability to the Zenius website in the future. Given that this site does not rule out the possibility it can be useful for users who do not master Indonesian.

3. User control and freedom

Users must be able to freely choose and do work (as needed).

Display of learning video features

The picture above is a display of one of the features in the form of video as a learning tool for users. Users can control this video with the play button located at the bottom of the video. The scroll button beside the video list allows the user to directly select the video to be viewed without having to play all the videos in sequence. Based on this, the Zenius website has implemented the third heuristic principle, which is giving free control to the user for more efficient use.

4. Consistency and Standards

Users do not need to question again about differences in understanding because all must have followed the standards.

Page design for being Zenius membership

Seen from the picture above, it seems that the Zenius website can be said to be quite consistent, that is, using the same language and its appearance can also be considered standard because it does not use strange fonts and styles that are easily carried by the user. It means that the Zenius website has fulfilled the principle of consistency and standards in the heuristic method.

5. Error Prevention

Design a system that prevents mistakes

Error display in the content code search feature

This feature appears if the user has signed in and the position is at the top right of the page. We tried the feature with random entries and a pop-up notification appears, as shown above, the duration of this notification is only seconds after it disappears by itself. This proves that the Zenius website has implemented the fifth principle of heuristic evaluation. But there needs to be an improvement, namely the need for an example of the form of “content code” itself. Because this will create confusion for new users.

6. Recognition than Recall

Users do not need to question again about the difference in understanding of a word and sentence, situation and action.

search recognition feature

To make an assessment of this aspect we tried on the Zenius blog page which is integrated with the Zenius.net website. after we enter keywords into the search column with the word “UN”, directly the Zenius website displays articles that have keywords written in the search column. With the following experiments, it is evident that the Zenius website has applied the principle of the sixth heuristic evaluation method.

7. Flexibility and Efficient of use

How to create a system that accommodates expert users and beginners.

submenu bar

When the menu bar is touched by the display, it will display a submenu that can be selected according to user needs. This makes the user’s job to search for options easier and faster because the position of the submenu bar is structured. With the submenu, bar means the principle of flexibility and efficiency of use on the Zenius website has been applied and proven to be able to help the work of the user.

8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

Provide relevant information and displays that are in accordance with system requirements

main page

The image is a design on the main page that loads from the options menu for learning material available on the Zenius site. The design is structured, neat and clean. And the selection of colors that match the colors of the Zenius brand makes the website look in harmony with the Zenius product itself. And this design also contains all information that is needed by the user.

9. Help Users Recognize, Dialogue, and Recovers from Errors

Alert Warning

This page will be displayed when the user wants to edit the profile of his Zenius account, if the user input is not in accordance with the requirements, an alert warning will appear in the form of a red text and contain what the user should do. Aside from being directly notified of the error alert warning, it guides the user to input correctly.

10. Help Documentation

The system must have documentation and assistance for users

customer service page

To help with the service on the Zenius website, you can see it by opening the customer service menu. There are contacts that users can contact. And what’s interesting is the availability of the live chat feature that users can use to interact directly with the admin in real time.

live chat feature

This feature can be done when the user has signed in or signed up. The existence of live chat is also very helpful for new users who want to start services with Zenius. Therefore it can be said that the Zenius website has implemented the tenth heuristic evaluation principle.

Conclusion

In general, the interface design on the Zenius.net website is good based on the heuristic evaluation. But there are many things that need to be improved so that usability becomes even better. Usability based on heuristic evaluation, there are several points that need to be reviewed such as the match between the system and the real world and Error Prevention.

Suggestion

Add language options to support the convenience of users who are not fluent in Indonesian when using the Zenius website. Fixed error prevention in the content search code feature, by adding an example of the content code that was dimmed.