Usability and the ALA website
Over a year ago, ALA contracted with a firm, Userworks, to conduct a usability study of the ALA website. On December 18, 2006 about 25 members, ALA leaders, and ALA staff met in Chicago to discuss the implications of the first round of reports. Among the recommendations was one to incorporate permanent mechanisms of usability engineering and testing that would improve website usability into ongoing operations. At the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., 194 persons visited a kiosk to comment on wireframes, or mock-ups of a proposed site redesign. Following the conference, we presented revised wireframes, incorporating the first round of critique, in a web-based version. Over the next two months, almost 1,500 people viewed the revised version and completed a survey. These results are summarized in a post on the Web Planning for ALA blog, with a link to the report provided.
In addition, there is a new position, that of Senior Usability Officer, for which we are recruiting to carry this work forward.
There will be more opportunity to have input to the future website. Graphic design mockups will be available online and on kiosks in the convention center during the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. In the meantime, watch the Web Planning blog for developments.
Karen
February 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
[…] what has been happening with the ALA website since its inception almost 13 years ago–but our current usability work is an effort to change our ways. Some […]