USER-CENTERED DESIGN AND USABILITY TESTING OF A WEB SITE - AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE-STUDY

Administrators at a large midwestern university recognized that their World Wide Web site was vapidly becoming an important factor in recrui ting new students. They also expected this Web site to serve many diff erent types of information needs for existing students,faculty, staff, and alumni. An interdisciplinary team of faculty, graduate students, and staff was formed to evaluate the existing Web site. A group from t his team first conducted a needs analysis to determine the kinds of in formation the target population was seeking. This analysis led to the creation qa new information structure for the Web site. Usability test s of the both the new and old designs were conducted on paper. Users w ere able to find answers to frequently asked questions much more rapid ly and successfully with the new information structure. This structure was further refined through additional usability tests conducted on t he Web itself. This descriptive case study illustrates the value of us er-centered design and usability testing of World Wide Web sites.