Web-Site evaluation

Hello các bác, các cao thủ tiếng anh.

Em mới một cái report, evaluate cái website www.paypal.com . Em đã submit nó rồi nhưng vẫn muốn mọi nguòi có thể proof reading cho em cái. Rồi đánh giá hộ em.

Sau đây là report của em


Introduction

Dramatic advance in technology has given existence to a lot of new technologies, and these technologies again fuel other technologies to participate in further development of digital age. Computers can be considered as an example. Computer itself is a new technology (Krugs, p57). Along with this new technology, we have Human Computer Interaction study, World Wide Web and other computer related technologies. In this report, the usability aspects of Human Computer Interaction and particularly the web-site interface will be closely examined. The purpose of evaluating this website is to find out what exactly users want and what problems they might encounter (Preece, p 415).

The results of the evaluation methods used and suggestions will be taken into account for further examination. There is a questionnaire attached with this document that is based on the outcomes of the evaluated web site. The web site evaluated is www.paypal.com. The web site descriptions, methods of evaluation, results and further suggestions will be looked at further. Since the more understanding the designer have about the users?T needs the better designed the web site will be. This will give feedback to the designing team and improve the site?Ts ease of use.


Web-site description

Purpose

www.paypal.com is a website that allows users who have cre*** card to send and receive money online quick and simple. Money can be sent to anyone who does not have a Pay pal account, whereas the receiver will need to sign up a new account with Paypal to collect the money if he/she does not have an account. PayPal operates a small online shop to fit the customers?T shopping needs. However, the amount of stock is still limited. The site attracts a huge amount of traffic each day (PayPal). Most of the users come to the site to send or receive money. (PayPal)



Scenario 1

Malcolm Brooks is a regular customer of online auction sites. Malcolm usually visits his favorite auction site that is www.ebay.com at night, normally after nine o?Tclock. He browses all the categories there and places a bid on item that he is interested in. Recently, Malcolm has won a laptop computer on e-bay. However, the seller is nowhere near where Malcolm is living. Charles (the seller?Ts name) recommends Malcolm to send him the money via the website www.paypal.com because the Charles claims that it is safe, fast and convenient. As suggested by the seller, Malcolm goes to www.paypal.com. He clicks on the ?oSend Money? link and curiously waiting for the page to be loaded. The browser takes him to a new page within the same window and displays a brief introduction, the procedures of how to send the money, a login box and a ?oSign up? link if the current user has not yet got a PayPal account. Since this is the first time Malcolm utilizes the site, he clicks on ?oSign up? link. That action takes him to a new page that requires him to fill in all personal details about his name, address, phone number, email address, security question, cre*** card number and the expiry date. After having signed up for a new account successfully, Malcolm is then ready to send money to Charles. Malcolm fills in e_seller@hotmail.com to the sender?Ts email address field and ?o2000? into the ?oAmount to send? text field. He then clicks on the ?oSend? button to start the transaction.

Scenario 2

John Matthew is a first year Information Technology student at University of Washington. Besides studying, John is also doing a part time job as a mobile phone dealer on PayPal?Ts shop. When the stocks arrive, John places an advertisement on the Paypal shop. If someone wants to buy the item then they will need to fill in the form about their personal details, their cre*** card number on the PayPal shop website and click on the ?oSubmit? button. Once the user clicks ?oSubmit?, all the information will be sent to John and he will send the item back to the customer. John utilizes the online payment on PayPal to accept the payment from such transaction via cre*** card. After sending the item back to the customer, John logs in to his account on PayPal to check whether the money has been cre***ed to his account. If the fund has not been transferred after twenty-four hours, John will file a claim to PayPal Customer Service Department to have the problem worked out.


Structure of information

The structure of information in Paypal is well organised by dividing the information to different links according to its content. However there is not a hierarchical category of information from general to specific to reduce the user?Ts time to look for a specific piece of information. Each hyper-link leads to an appropriate document and the most important information is displayed as a big heading at the top of the page. The use of terminology, controls, graphics and menus are quite consistent throughout the system.

The way the website www.paypal.com is structured allows user to get to the main categories in a reasonable number of clicks. The site is divided to five major pages ?oWelcome?, ?oSend money?, ?oRequest money?, ?oShop? and ?oSell?. Few minor links are laid out nicely near the bottom of the page. However, the users?T initial attention will focus on the five main headings. The site is designed interactively because the users can view, update, and change their account details whenever they want. PayPal also gives users information about the company profile, the security, privacy and other useful information. There are some hyper-links that leads to some evidences show the efficiency, effectiveness and number of transactions has occurred so far on PayPal.


Evaluation Method

Various methods have been undertaken to evaluate the site usability. Initially, I browsed then investigated the usability aspects of the site. The test is conducted by supporting two scenarios. Each scenario illustrates different use of PayPal and different users?T perspective toward PayPal?Ts service. The two scenarios above mainly depict the situation and process of utilizing PayPal?Ts service that mainly named ?oSend Money? and ?oReceive Money?. The following factors are also taken into consideration:

? Efficiency of use
? Visual presentation
? Area of difficulty.

The result of the attached questionnaire is based on my individual browsing and analyzing. All the outcomes in the questionnaire are then grouped in appropriate categories.


Efficiency of use

It?Ts not quite true to say that Paypal is easy to use for a wide range of people with different expertise because there is some technical processes that a new user might find quite difficult to deal with. For instance, they might wonder how to get a log-in and password when they first come to the site because they see a blank log-in box, how it is possible to get the money on-line etc... In fact, everything will make sense to them later on when they gain more experience. Nevertheless, Paypal provides its users an excellent help faclitity which has a list of frequently asked questions and all the information that the users need. This help facility greatly contribute to the site?Ts usage efficency.


Visual Presentation

The use of colour is restricted appropriately since it is suitable for colour-blind users. The color is not too bright and not extensively dark; its color is somewhere in the middle so it is quite pleasing to the eye.

The visual presentaion is simple, intuitive, easy to learn and pleasing. The website free from irrelevant, unnecessary and distracting information so the users are not distracted from the irrelevant informations. Clear icons and buttons labelled and the use of graphic controls is very obvious. The user?Ts current state is always visible to himself/herself as to where they are, hence increases the efficiency of the usage.

Area of difficulty

In general, the PayPal is designed fairly well; however, there are still some areas that cause the users to encounter problems and limit their usage. These problems involve navigation, presentation and content.

It is little bit difficult to find where the search box is on PayPal?Ts home page. The search menu is not placed in the initial page when it is loaded, instead it is placed in the ?oHelp? category. For example if John Mathew in the scenario above wants to find out the fees and charge that apply to him instantly without browsing the site, it will take him sometime hence leads to inefficiency of use. The approach to this problem is to place the search box in the initial page so it is visible immediately to the user when the hompage is first loaded. (See Figure 1)

It?Ts sometimes annoying to the users when the document is opened in a new window. This makes users unsure whether they are still surfing at Paypal have left there. Moreover, it brings confusion to users with little computing and/or Internet experience. For example, there are few journals about Paypal that on the ?oWelcome? page; however, when the users click on these links, the browser opens the journal in the new window. As mentioned above, thus it?Tll be a good idea not to open the document in the new window.

The users will understand and form an overall picture of the site better if the site map is included on the web site. The site map gives the users a list of area and content of the site hence improves the navigation usability.

It?Ts also inappropriate to have the ?oSend Money? and ?oRequest Money? link in the ?oWelcome? page, since those two link is not clustered to the ?oWelcome? title.


As a professional website, PayPal should offer a common place for virtual community like bulletin board or guest book so customer can comment, exchange their experiences about PayPal with others interactively. It is still limited in a way that its service is offered only in America and some European country.

It might due to the in-effciency of design time that bring PayPal to life with only one interface. There are not custom interface according to each typical sort of people. There?Ts only one interface to the general user. For example, if disabled people want to access the site they would have to access the same interface as normal people. So there are no equity among normal users and disabled users in both visualization and au***ory comment. In order to extend services to disabled users like sight partial, color-blind users, the designing team should consider the format of the font size, color setting etc? so it creates a friendly interface according to each type of user.(Figure 2)

Conclusion

Overall, www.paypal.com is designed fairly good because it give the users opportunity to send and receive money over quick intervals. Moreover, it has the well organised information centered around transfering of money and related issues like security, privacy etc? In spite of the good service that PayPal provides, it still has areas that require improvements. These areas include the inappropriate displaying of content, lack of clear overview and lack of consideration to disabled users. With little effort, time and expen***ure, the web-site can be made *****it all types of users and attract them in large numbers.













Biliography

Preece, J., Sharp, H. and Rogers, Y. (1994) Human-Computer Interaction, Addison-Wesley, UK

Heuristic Guide [online] http://www.id-book.com/catherb/index.htm
10/3/02

Questionaire [online] http://simnotes.ise.canberra.edu.au/IT2/IT22002.nsf/8197c8624341e08c4a256191000cbc57/3430af3a322b6812ca256b670013663d?OpenDocument
10/3/02

Cox, K., and Walker, D. (1993) User-Interface Design 2nd E***ion, Prentice Hall, Singapore

Krug, S. (2000) Don't Make Me Think. A common sense approach to web usability. New Riders Publishing

PayPal [online] www.paypal.com 10/3/02


Figure 1
Search box added to Welcome Page




Figure 2
Theme selection combo box added.