Website usability evaluation

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and understand the whole concept of website usability and to conduct actual website usability testing project on www.silmaasema.fi website. The website usability testing was independently carried out by the author and was not commissioned by the owners and developers of the website. When web users visit a site, they have some goals in their minds. The success of a website lies on its ability to balance its own goals and the goals of its user through enhancement of its usability. Website usability is the creation of means on a website that leads to an effective, efficient and happy user experience. Task-based scenarios and think aloud protocol were the method employed in conducting the website usability testing project. Morae usability software was used to aid in carrying out the entire testing sess10n. Actual user experience was investigated using questionnaires, task scenarios and video recordings in discovering website usability problems. Website usability is a broad subject matter and its outcome is purely dependent on human perception of what is pleasing and not; thus, cognitive psychology and the law of gestalt play a vital role. Website usability should be included in the curriculum of IT students to educate them more about usability the importance and role of which are indispensable in the practice of the IT profession. With respect to the outcome of the actual website usability testing project conducted, there is a need to modify the website considering that the problems found were significant enough, and additional heuristic evaluation must be conducted