This document discusses the importance of usability in websites. It notes that over 83% of users will leave a website if it takes too many clicks to find what they are looking for, and $25 billion is lost every year due to usability issues. The document then examines existing tools to evaluate website usability, including tools that obtain feedback from experts, track real user behavior and actions, and check for compliance with usability guidelines. It also references a Netcraft report finding that only 29.3% of existing websites are currently active, suggesting that websites need to be usable or users will stop using them.

1. Usability
Is it really important in your Website?

2. In your
opinion,
what is a
usable
website?
(select
one)
A. A website that can be easily
used by the end user
B. A website that can be easily
designed by the web UI
engineer
C. A website that meets the
requirements of the client
D. You don’t really know ;)

3. Of course
the
Answer
is…
A. A website that can be easily
used by the end user

4.  More than83% of Internet users are
likely to leave a web site if it takes too
many clicks to find what they are
looking for.
Background
 $25 billion is lost every year due to web
site usability issues. ~Arthur Anderson Internet Survey~
 The demand to check website usability
continues to grow.
 HCI guidelines of W3C’s WCAG, ISO
924, HHS and IEEE are considered as
the most important web usability
guidelines to check in web.

5. Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
Tools that
communicates with
experts to ensure the
designs are usable
and accessible

6. Concept Feedback
Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
http://www.conceptfeedback.co
m/
Feedback Army
http://www.feedbackarmy.com/

7. Pros:
 Get free expert guidelines.
Cons:
Pros &
cons
 Reviews are based only on images
of designs.
 No guarantee that the reviewers’
opinions reflect the actual user
experience.

8. Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
Tools that track the
real end users’ actions
to evaluate usability
of the designs.
(use heat maps or
records user actions
within a session)

9.  ClickHeat
Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
http://www.labsmedia.com/clickheat/index.html
 ClickTale
http://www.clicktale.com/
 Clicxpy
http://ww2.clixpy.com/

10. Pros &
cons
Pros:
 Tracks real users trying to conduct
real tasks on the website.
 Captures and analyzes real user data
as the site visitors complete tasks.
Cons:
 There is no way to ask users why they
clicked where they did.
 These tools are not free.

11. Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
Tools that check for
guidelines compliance
of web pages by
providing the URL of
the web page to be
checked.

12. MAGENTA
Existing
tools to
check
usability
issues in
websites
http://giove.isti.cnr.it:8080/Mag
entaWeb2/
Accessibility Valet
http://valet.webthing.com/access/url.
html
TAW
http://www.tawdis.net/

13. Pros:
 Can check for guidelines
compliance of web pages.
Pros &
cons
 Can check the dynamic behavior of
websites.
Cons:
 Process takes place after design
and, usually, after hosting the site.

14. What
Netcraft
says…
(Netcraft is an
Internet services
company which
provides web
server and web
hosting marketshare analysis,
including web
server and
operating system
detection.)
 The Netcraft website shows the number of
websites on the Internet as at February 2013 as
below.
 There is a visible gap between the number of
hostnames and the number of active sites.
 Only 29.3% of total sites are active at present.

15. So, do you
think if your
website is
less usable
for its users,
that they
will use it
anymore?

16. References
 [1] Netcraft. (2013, Feb.).February 2013 Web
Server
Survey.[Online].Available:http://news.netcraft
.com/archives/2013/02/01/february-2013-webserver-survey.html
 [2] Adele Sage. (2013, Feb.).Forrester.
[Online].Available:
http://blogs.forrester.com/adele_sage/12-0315lessons_learned_from_1500_website_user_ex
perience_reviews
 [3] Central Bank of Sri Lanka. (2011).Annual
Report 2011.[Online].
Available:http://www.cbsl.gov.lk/pics_n_docs/
10_pub/_docs/efr/annual_report/AR2011/Engli
sh/content.htm
 [4] Web Accessibility Initiative.
(2006).Complete List of Web Accessibility
Evaluation Tools.[Online]. Available:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/RC/tools/complete