USEworthy February 2003
The monthly Newsletter from The Usability Company

Welcome to February's edition of USEworthy. This month we have a major announcement as Marty Carroll, Director of the Usability Practice, has had a paper published titled - Usability and Web Analytics: ROI justification for an Internet strategy. It has been published in the Interactive Marketing Journal and a short introduction and a link to a downloadable version is provided below.

We also hear about the "Interface: User and Machine" Conference held in November 2002, and Chaired by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In addition Catriona Campbell our CEO has been busy when The Usability Company was invited to represent the UK at the European Usability Forum held in Vienna, December 2002. You can find out what that conference was all about below.

We also bring you up to date with the latest news at The Usability Company and finally Arlene Kline adds the fourth and final part to our series on accessibility, this month covering the moral argument surrounding website accessibility.

Company News

Here is a round up of news and announcements within The Usability Company during the past month.

Shelter contract win: Shelter uses The Usability Company to consult its web users
Shelter has awarded The Usability Company its contract for the provision of usability services and consulting on two of its websites – www.shelternet.org.uk and www.homelessnessact.org.uk. The Usability Company carried out a thorough usability evaluation of both websites. The findings from the evaluation will feed the next phase of development for each website.

Joe Barrell, Website Manager at Shelter explained: "Shelter is developing a range of new online services and information resources. As with any web development project, the success of the work we are doing depends on a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of our audiences. We therefore required a detailed and specific evaluation of how they use our websites. The best way to make this evaluation is through user-testing."

The Usability Company offers a special charities rate card that enables organisations such as Shelter to benefit from independent, business-focused usability services within the constraints of limited budgets. This is particularly important to Shelter given the wide diversity of its user groups, which include local authority housing departments, Shelter supporters, and people with any kind of housing problem.

Technology For Marketing 2003
This is a quick reminder that we will be appearing at the Technology For Marketing 2003 conference and exhibition to be held at Olympia 11th and 12th February. You can find us on stand D95 and we will be demonstrating Usability Evaluation techniques live on the stand, plus the very latest in online usability and market research technologies.

Recruitment
Applications have now closed for the position of Marketing Manager and we are hopeful that we can make the appointment from the high quality of candidates that applied.

In the meantime and as promised last month, we can now reveal the identity of our new Usability Specialist. She is someone who will be known to many of you, as she is probably one of the best-qualified and most experienced usability consultants in the UK. She is of course Lisa Halabi. We will ask Lisa to write a short review of her first month for you in next months USEworthy.

and Finally...
Catriona Campbell, CEO of The Usability Company, appeared on the Radio 4 programme Shop Talk last week (Tuesday 28th January at 16.00 hours).

"Heather Payton and guests discuss why some new technologies change our lives and others are confined to the footnotes of history."

You can listen to the programme on the BBC website if you missed it.

Usability and Web Analytics: ROI justification for an Internet strategy

By Marty Carroll, Director of the Usability Practice.

With an uncertain economic climate and tightening budgets the time has come to cost justify usability activities. While most site owners intuitively feel that commissioning usability research is a fundamentally sound strategy it is becoming increasingly difficult to release budgets when the value it brings is often dubious.

However, the advent of sophisticated web analytics tools means that a demonstrable return on investment is now obtainable when performing usability research. A framework can be implemented that allows for the measurement of site improvements over time with the focus constantly on identified core metrics for the site. By measuring the impact usability changes make to these metrics it is possible to apply monetary values to changes as they impact the site.

This paper proposes an approach whereby web analytic packages and usability research complement each other to align site improvements to commercial goals. You can download a copy by following the link below. If you have any questions regarding these issues please contact me via our website

(PDF, file size 264KB)

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this document. If you're using access technology software on your computer, visit http://access.adobe.com/ for more information about using PDF files.

"Interface: User and Machine" Conference. November 2002
Chaired by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Chaired by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce held a one-day conference on "Interface: User and Machine" instigated by the Duke of Edinburgh in November, and The Usability Company was there. The conference was such a success that a few speakers have been invited to the Palace this month to relay any more news on the subjects raised directly to the Prince.

The Prince had not realised, when he instigated the Conference that the room would be filled by "the converted" and that there were so many people in the design, marketing, and indeed usability community aware of user-centred design.

He gave us all an insight into his life; attempting to use the interfaces of some more recent technologies, he discovered that he thought he "was alone in finding them difficult and kept my problems to myself," he said. But, he concluded, manufacturers must 'get a kick out of hiding the on-off switch'. He complained of control panels that resemble the Rosetta Stone and video recorders that can only be set by 'lying flat on the floor with a torch in your teeth and a user manual'. Or indeed, what he tends to do at the Palace, is grab a "handy 5 year old, and get them to help".

The RSA assembled a great line-up of speakers from various backgrounds. Roger Coleman, director of the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre described the impact of a falling birth-rate worldwide, an ageing population and the move towards social inclusion as a philosophy. Universal design, he said, meant getting it right for everybody.

Sir Christopher Frayling, chairman of the Design Council and rector of the Royal College of Art, described the concept of UFOs "unwanted feature options" he concluded that some people – most probably technophiles - may enjoy "peeling the technological onion" but, that many features are there not because they are needed or useful but because the product is under-designed and over-technologised and "Not over-designed". Linn Products had a representative in the audience, who described that as soon as they removed UFO's from their home entertainment systems, their customers stopped buying the products, because even though they may never use all of the features offered, they perceived the value of the UFO's on competitor systems as adding value. There has to be a happy medium!

But, when it comes to accessibility of products and technology, there can be no choice, but to make them work. David Yelding of RICAbility, reiterated the concept of inclusive design. He described how RICA had never tested a product in the UK, which completely met their standards of "inclusive design".

A panel of industry experts also discussed usability and accessibility issues in general. Catriona Campbell of The Usability Company described what we feel is an important impetus for organisations across the UK to start designing inclusively – the Disability Discrimination Act revised code of practice, which now makes it "unlawful for service providers, landlords and other persons to discriminate against disabled people in certain circumstances".

The Usability Company is invitd to represent the UK at the European Usability Forum held in Vienna, December 2002

By Catriona Campbell, CEO

The European Usability Forum was set up by a project team sponsored by the European Commission to consolidate various views on the field of Usability or Human Computer Interaction in Europe, and it served as a forum to discuss respective experiences and expectations for the industry for collaboration across Europe. We also concluded that there were a number of projects for which we would seek European funding, to enable Europe to become a leading force in new and evolving usability initiatives and research.

Representatives nominated to attend the forum included the UK, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, France and Italy.

The principle common understanding of the new forum is, that it shall be a strategic entity which provides a clear and strong voice for the HCI, usability and user centred design community. I was nominated by my peers to lead the Communications and Public Awareness Sub Group, one of six groups to support the initiatives across Europe. I am delighted to be nominated by such a prestigious collection of Usability experts for this very important role, and I look forward to working with my peers to encourage best usability and accessibility practice across Europe in the years to come. Having met with my peers in the European Usability Forum, I believe that by sharing methodologies and new initiatives, we really can raise the level of European Usability expertise beyond the of the US.

I have also been nominated to serve on the following Sub Groups; Innovation (specifically new Usability Tools research), Policy, Lobbying and Regulation, and Accreditation, Knowledge, Curriculum, Accessibility.

The European Usability Forum is set to meet regularly, with meetings for 2003 organised, and more news to follow in these newsletters.

Accessibility: Four Part Series
Part Four: Moral Issues

"As long as companies and government agencies view accessibility as solely a matter of complying with regulations and technical specifications, rather than a way to support the work practices and customer needs of people with disabilities, equal opportunity will remain a travesty. Websites and intranets must follow usability principles and make it easier for customers and employees with disabilities to perform their tasks" Jakob Nielsen, useit.com.

Disabled people, especially blind and partially sighted people, are being excluded from one of the most important technological breakthroughs of recent years. The ability to use the World Wide Web to meet personal, education, information and shopping needs is being denied to blind and partially sighted people by a lack of 'inclusive design'.

There are 1.7 million people in the UK who are blind and partially sighted. Research shows serious sight loss often curtails independent mobility and the ability to get the information needed to participate fully in society.

The Internet has certainly been a positive, liberating force for those disabled people who are equipped to use it. Once they have gotten past the hurdle of having to setup any necessary enabling technologies (specialized input/output devices and the appropriate software such as Braille output, screen readers like JAWS, voice recognition software, specialized keyboards, wheelchair mounted switches for interacting with the software, etc.) to take full advantage of the Internet, their disabilities become transparent. It could reduce dependence on others and it could give a community that is often excluded, a voice in the 'information society'. They can shop, bank, communicate, etc. without other users knowing about their disabilities and without those disabilities restraining or defining them as they tend to in the physical world. Or they could, if enough sites were designed to include these types of users.

Designers don't always get it right. Whether by ignorance or shortsightedness many sites fall short of the accessibility guidelines setup by the WAI (Web Access Initiative - http://www.w3.org/WAI/). Many disabled people who make it onto the Internet just don't find enough accessible sites to make it worth their while. Many more don't even make it onto the Internet because they just don't see the point. Those of us who are online realize the vast wealth of information and facilities that can be found and recognize how useful Internet based service could be to disabled people. However, with so many inaccessible sites contributing to the 'digital divide' it's a hard case to make.

Designers and developers need to realise that users may be operating in contexts very different from their own:

• They may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all.
• They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
• They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.
• They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection.
• They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written.
• They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud environment, etc.).
• They may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

Content developers must consider these different situations during page design. While there are several situations to consider, each accessible design choice generally benefits several disability groups at once and the Web community as a whole. For example, by using style sheets to control font styles and eliminating the FONT element, HTML authors will have more control over their pages, make those pages more accessible to people with low vision, and by sharing the style sheets, will often shorten page download times for all users.

For more information please see the WAI checklist of design pointers for accessible websites.

The Accessibility issue is now rising to the fore for a variety of reasons. The press coverage over IBM being sued because of their inaccessible Olympics site; the potential implications of the revised Code of Practice in the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) to Internet based providers of services - though as yet there have been no prosecutions, is not a case of if a prosecution will occur, but when and to whom; there is now a stronger business case as more disabled users are online; the possible brand damage for not creating accessible sites, especially for the more well known brands and last, but not least, pressure from organisations representing the interests of disabled people who now represent a valuable and untapped market sector.

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