2. Goals
Business Goal:
To increase subscriptions to and traffic on the
Family Locator Service by improving usability
User Goal:
To easily locate and track family members to
ensure their safety
2
3. Typical Users/User Needs
Jennifer – 31 years old
• Stay-at-home Mom
• Three young children
• Madeline – Aged 8
• Mark – Aged 6
• Annie – Aged 4
Interested in:
Daily alerts – The two older children walk to and from
school each day. Jennifer would like to receive alerts
when they have arrived safely in the morning and are on
their way home in the afternoon.
3
4. Typical Users/User Needs (Continued)
Lisa – 45 years old
• Working Mother
• Divorced
• 2 Teenagers
• Hillary – aged 17
• Zoe – aged 16
Interested in:
Perimeter alert – Lisa wants to be alerted when Zoe is on her
way home from her afterschool job at the mall. She also wants
assurance that Hillary – a new driver – isn’t speeding or
driving where she shouldn’t.
4
5. Methods
• Evaluate primary user tasks and scenarios
• Identify and document usability issues
• Describe and prioritize issues
• Based on Scope
• Global – impact greater than a single screen
• Local – impact limited to a single screen
• Based on Severity
• High – Prevents or greatly hinders task completion
• Medium – Somewhat hinders task completion
• Low – Does not hinder task completion but adds confusion or
frustration, or does not conform to best practices
5
6. Positive Feedback
• A centralized listing of relevant locations is very convenient
• The variety of map views accommodates user preferences
• Adheres in many ways to industry best practices
• The user guide was thorough and easy to use
• The system prevents the user from assigning same avatar to
more than one person
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7. Summary of Findings
Issues by Priority
Scope Severity # of Issues
Global High 0
Local High 2
Global Medium 2
Local Medium 5
Global Low 4
Local Low 6
7
8. Local Usability Issues
Adding Locations
Issue:
No indication of success when
adding a new location
Recommendation :
Provide user feedback with a dialog box
Scope: Local
8
Severity: High
9. Local Usability Issues
Adding Locations (cont’d)
Issue:
No easy way to add a new location
by entering an address
Recommendation:
Give user flexibility for entering
address
Scope: Local
9
Severity: Medium
10. Local Usability Issues
Adding Locations (cont’d)
Issue:
The “Add Location” selection pointer is
difficult to see
Recommendation:
Supplement the “Click to Place” callout
with a more visible pointer
Scope: Local
10
Severity: Medium
11. Local Usability Issues
Updates
Issue:
The explanation of the
difference between the
two types of Updates is
confusing
Recommendation:
Consider new terminology. Use a “wizard” format to guide the user
through the selection process.
Scope: Local
11
Severity: Medium
12. Local Usability Issues
Using the Contacts Feature
Issue :
Contact information is
not dynamic
Recommendation:
Enable hyperlinks for the
email addresses
Scope: Local
12
Severity: Low
13. Local Usability Issues
Add Updates
Issue:
Data is lost when user
navigates away from summary
Recommendation:
Notify user of potential data
loss and provide an option to
save previously entered data
Scope : Local
13
Severity: High
14. Local Usability Issues
Add Updates
Issue:
No indication of what type of
Update is being created
Recommendation:
Display the Update type on the
title bar of the dialog box or
elsewhere
Scope: Local
14
Severity: Low
15. Local Usability Issues
Prompts When Creating A Contact
Issue :
When a user types in a phone
number in the following format -
“ XXX-XXX-XXXX” the last two
numbers are truncated because
there is no instruction NOT to
include dashes between the
numbers.
Recommendation :
Set up a “grayed-out” example/template of the preferred way
for the user to enter new information
Scope: Local
15
Severity: Low
16. Local Usability Issues
Arrival/Departure Updates
Issue:
To set up an Arrival/Departure
Update, the user must have
already set up a Location. There
is no way to add a Location from
within the Add Update dialog
box.
Recommendation:
Provide a means to set up a Location from within the Add Update
dialog box, or at least alert the user to this prerequisite at the
beginning of the process.
Scope: Local
16
Severity: Medium
17. Local Usability Issues
Map Integration
Issue:
Map interaction and options are not
always well integrated.
Recommendation:
There may be limitations to how well the Bing map application
can be integrated into Family Locator. Nevertheless, users expect
seamless integration. Gaps and quirks in integration (as seen in
the Clear Map button) can leave users lost or frustrated.
Scope: Local
17
Severity: Medium
18. Local Usability Issues
Main Page Tabs
Issue:
Tab states in main page of the UI
are subtle and do not follow other
tab conventions used elsewhere.
Recommendation:
Use standard tab selection to
improve visibility and to improve
consistency.
Scope: Local
18
Severity: Low
19. Local Usability Issues
User Avatar
Issue:
There is no way for the
user to import a custom
image.
Recommendation :
Add the ability to import custom images as avatars. If this is not
feasible, consider adding more contemporary avatars to the
selection.
Scope: Local
19
Severity: Low
20. Local Usability Issues
Editing Limitations
Issue:
Editing an Update or
Location item is limited to
the item’s Name.
Recommendation :
Allow the user to edit the
other attributes of the item.
If this is not possible, rename
the function.
Scope: Local
20
Severity: Medium
21. Global Usability Issues
Session Expiration
Issue:
The user session expires after
an unstated interval, and
when it does, the login
screen doesn’t reappear.
Recommendations:
•Notify the user when the session is about to expire.
•When the session expires, program the “OK” button to redisplay
the login screen.
Scope: Global
21
Severity: Medium
22. Global Usability Issues
Browser Back Button
Issue:
The browser’s Back button
selection automatically initiates
the phone location process.
Recommendation:
Make phone location a process the user must explicitly initiate.
Add programming so that when the user clicks the Back button,
the current state of the session is preserved.
Scope: Global
22
Severity: Medium
23. Global Usability Issues
Design Consistency
Issue:
Design is not consistent within the
portal itself or with Verizon Wireless
web branding.
Recommendation:
Establish and follow design guide as
closely as possible in all UI windows.
Better integrate Verizon Wireless
branding (fonts, colors etc.).
Scope: Global
23
Severity: Low
24. Global Usability Issues
Design Elements
Issue:
Inconsistent use of red coloring on
some critical buttons could lead to
confusion.
Recommendation:
Establish and follow design guide as closely as possible in all UI
windows. Avoid the use or red button coloration unless deemed
necessary.
Scope: Global
24
Severity: Low
25. Global Usability Issues
Dialog Section Titles & Info
Issue:
The section titles (red text) and
information (gray text) are separated
from the data they describe
Recommendation:
Right justify text, remove vertical gray lines,
use color or shaded background to unify
data. Redesign dialogs so that header data
and text are in line with areas described.
Scope: Global
25
Severity: Low
26. Global Usability Issues
Help: Family Locator
Issue:
After selecting Help, the user is directed to an intermediary page
devoted to marketing. Another link to the actual help guide is at
the bottom of this page.
Recommendation:
Increase the visibility of helpful user information. Also increase
the amount and depth of existing help data. Leverage Family
Locator User Guide material, but put it up front instead of buried
under links and after marketing material.
Scope: Global
26
Severity: Medium
27. Global Usability Issues
Terminology
•Updates – This is confusing. The term “Updates” is most typically
associated with software updates
•Avatar – This is quasi-technical term. Users are more likely to understand
terms like “picture,” “image,” or “icon”
•History – The History tab in main window reflects only location history and
not message history, for example (this is in a different location). Change to
Location History
•Message Center – This menu is used for frequently asked questions and
user guide. This creates confusions between actual messaging and help
•Chaperone – Mobile application naming is not consistent with the online
portal name “ Family Locator “
Scope: Global
27
Severity: Low
28. Suggested Issue Prioritization
Scope Severity
1 Global High
2 Local High
3 Global Medium
4 Local Medium
5 Global Low
6 Local Low
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