Transcript Strategies for Writing and Designing Easy-to

Writing and Designing
Easy-to-Use Web Sites
Steven Sparks
Health Literacy Director
Half of adults read at the 8th
grade level or below, yet…
Most web sites are written at
the 10th grade level or higher
What we know about limited
literacy web site users
• Scanning is hard
• Focus on narrow field of view
• Skip chunks of text
What we know about limited
literacy web site users
• Decide “enough is enough” quickly
• Skip from link to link
• Get distracted easily
• Avoid “search”
Impact of aging on web site use
•
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Vision
Field of View
Visual-motor coordination
Hearing
More seniors are using the web. But those
with difficulty navigating or understanding
are not.
ALL users benefit from improved
readability and usability
Time on Task
(Mean)
Original Site
High literacy
14:19
Prototype
5:05
Improvement
+182%
Lower literacy
22:16
9:30
+134%
All users
17:50
6:45
+164%
Source: Summers, K., & Summers, M. (2005). Reading and navigational
strategies of Web users with lower literacy skills.
High Literacy Users:
3x as fast with the
revised site
93% success rate
on revised site
(compared to 68%
with original)
Involving Your Audience:
User-Centered Design
Why involve your audience?
1. Just because you think your material is awesome
doesn’t mean that your audience does.
2. You can waste a lot of time and money
developing messages and materials that nobody
uses.
3. It’s the only way you can be sure that your
messages will be understood.
Why involve your audience?
4. Target audience members will be empowered
and invested in the success of your product.
5. It will make you a better communicator.
Credit: CommunicateHealth
Testing Methods
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Focus Groups
• Collaging
Click testing – only 5 users needed!
Source: Jakob Nielsen, Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users, 2000
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Keep content concise
– Shorter articles; to the point
– Avoid long paragraphs and sentences
– Use plain language
Readability Test Tool: www.read-able.com
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Keep content concise
– Actionable
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• De-clutter your site
– White space
– Readable font
– Useful, not excessive color
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Start with a clear home page
– Communicate the big picture
– Be clear: “What’s in it for me?”
– Limit number of elements and graphics
(buttons, boxes, lists, text)
– Use links and short descriptions
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Simplify your navigation
– Clear and consistent on every page,
including “back”
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Organize and label clearly
(Information architecture)
– Make it intuitive (How will you know?)
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Organize and label clearly Put most
important information first
Strategies for Writing and
Designing Easy-to-Use Web Sites
• Make it interactive
– Personalized content
– Interactive tools:
• Printing information
• Share
• Take a poll/quiz
• Calculator (e.g., BMI)
Resources
Usability.gov
Health.gov/healthliteracyonline
A case study:
MyHealthWI.org Web Site
Usability Testing
Purpose and Methods
• Purpose
– Evaluate usability and improve the user experience
• Methods
– Development of moderator’s guide
– 3 remote and 3 in-person usability testing sessions
– Usability review of MyHealthWI.org
• Participants
– 6 adults (including 2 LEP) with limited literacy skills
and 1 with above average literacy skills
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Impressions of MyHealthWI.org
• Participants said the site
related to finding
insurance, a clinic or
healthcare provider, or a
health care job
• Participants noticed the
video and the pictures
first
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What worked well for participants
• Understood the color system for the
ratings
• In general, were able to use the “Your
Location Search” box
• Successful with the horizontal menu
and drop-down navigation
• Successful using the “Search Again”
button on the search results page
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What Worked Well
• Participants felt the site offered useful information
• All 6 participants said they would recommend the site to
their family and friends
“
Is the website on-line and ready to be
used? I could use it right now.”
— Participant #2
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Room for Improvement
Main Purpose of Site:
•Participants had difficulty understanding the main
purpose of the site.
•Participants misinterpreted ratings — two thought
that the ratings were based on reviews from other
consumers.
“
I would use this site like Yelp — if I
moved somewhere and I needed
to find a doctor, I could find a
pretty good one.”
— Participant #3
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Main purpose of site
Recommendations
•Clarify site purpose on homepage to expectations;
use new language: “Search and compare doctors’
offices in Wisconsin based on how well they care for
their patients.”
•Keep the site
content focused
on cost and
quality data;
reduce stock
photos
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Who sponsors the site
Findings
•Participants struggled to identify the sponsor
•One participant thought the sponsor was “My Health
Wisconsin”
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Who sponsors the site
Recommendations
•Make top header box simpler, more open space
•Delete “Choosing your healthcare with confidence”
•Change configuration of sponsor and site name
My Health Wisconsin
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Homepage
Findings
•Participants noticed the pictures
and video first — before search
feature
•Took too long to figure out what
the purpose of the site is
Recommendations
•Move search feature to the top
of the page so users see it first
•Enhance readability by leftaligning text and using title case
for headers
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Clinic Search
Findings
•Label of the search form was confusing
(“Find and Compare Quality…”)
•Participants had difficulty spelling cities
•Participants did not know what the different
provider types were (Family Medicine, etc.)
Find a Clinic
Recommendations
•Rename the search form “Find a Clinic”
•Make search button a different color
•Add ? icon next to “Choose Provider Type”
Search
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Clinic Search Map
Findings
• Participants preferred the
search box to the map
• Map too small
Recommendations
• Modify the map; make
clickable by county
• Include big cities on the
map
I was looking for Madison and I don't see well —
“
my eyes couldn't see the map. I think Madison's
— Participant #2
somewhere at the bottom.”
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Search Results, Ratings
Findings
•Participants were confused by
headings on the rating columns
•Participants were confused by
meaning of “Not Rated”
•Participants weren’t easily able to compare two clinics
•Participants were surprised and momentarily confused by
what happened when they clicked the header
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Search Results, Ratings
Recommendations
•Add total number of results to
page (e.g., “X of Y results”)
•Revise rating headers for
plain language
•Add hover text with definitions
to tab headers and rating
headers
•Add click to “group by rating”
•Use different icon for “Not Rated” (like an X)
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FAQ and Quality Measures
Findings
•Participants had difficulty
comprehending, finding,
and scanning content on
both pages
Recommendations
•Add headers to group questions — put the most
important questions first
•Revise content for plain language
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Content
Findings
• Participants had difficulty
interpreting many labels (e.g.,
FAQ, Consumer Resources,
Pediatrics)
• Participants did not understand
key terms on the site like
healthcare quality, efficiency,
and primary care provider
“
I’m not really sure what
— Participant #1
FAQ stands for.”
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Content
Recommendations
• Use plain language principles
– Actionable headers; most
important information first
– Be brief and to the point
• Revise top-level navigation labels:
– FAQ, Consumer Resources
• Define difficult terms like primary care physician
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Navigation and Architecture
Tab names and landing page names
must be consistent.
FAQ can be a secondary page.
Your Location Search is not
currently in navigational
structure.
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Visual Design
Too many fonts are
used throughout the
site.
Translucent images
with text on top are
distracting and
hard to read.
The website template
horizontal image is large
and pushes content too far
down the page.
Bulleting styles are
inconsistent
throughout the
site.
Low color contrast is not
good for website
accessibility.
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Writing and Designing
Easy-to-Use Web Sites
Steven Sparks
Health Literacy Director
[email protected]