Task
You have been engaged to provide an expert review of the realestate.com.au site.
The realestate.com.au allows users to search, select and view properties for sale within Australia. The site displays properties from most real estate agents within an area and can generally be used to discover possible properties for inspection and purchase within a specified suburb or area.
The site allows a user to search for properties using a number of different criteria, such as location and type of property, but also allows a user to set a range for the price and the number of bedrooms that they require.
Task:
You are to provide an expert review using the Usability Heuristic that you developed in the first Assignment. As part of your review you are to make specific reference to the site’s use of:
Navigational features;
Graphics;
Colour schemes;
Themes;
Hyperlinks.
Your expert review should also examine the usability of the site. You are to make specific reference to:
The organisation and consistency of information;
Navigation; and
Searching the site for specific information.
Your review should consider these specific elements and comment on their use and appropriateness on as part of the overall design of that website.
As part of your review, you must also seek the opinions of three (3) users of that site. These users may be family, friends or colleagues, but MUST NOT include other students enrolled in this subject. You need to prepare a simple questionnaire for these users to complete so that you can determine how effectively they can use the site. The questionnaire is to be based on the following scenario:
You have invited a friend to dinner for next Saturday night. You know that she and her family are interested in buying property in the Bathurst area that is reasonably close to the town centre, schools and the University.
Your friend’s requirements for a property are:
Purchase price up to $395,000;
Minimum of three (3) bedrooms, preferably with ensuite bathroom attached to the master bedroom;
Separate home office;
Minimum of one (1) bathroom;
Parking for two (2) cars;
Large private garden;
Located close ( 2km) to Bathurst CBD.
You, and your users, need to be able to:
Search for and locate at least three (3) properties that meet all the criteria on the site;
Create a list of properties in order of the properties that are closest to the stated requirements;
You must ensure that all survey participants have to check for the same information.
Your survey questionnaire should be included in your report as an appendix.
You should discuss the findings of your user survey as well as any recommendations for changes to the interface as a result of your review. You should also discuss how any suggested changes will improve the usability of the news site interface.
Your review is to be submitted in a report using the following headings:
Executive Summary. This is a summary of your overall report. This section should be about one page in length.
Description of the User Interface. This should be a brief (about ½ page) description of the UI and how it works.
Review of the User Interface for Usability. This is the body of your report and you should discuss the usability of the site, its issues and good points. This should be about two to three pages in length.
User survey findings. Here you need to discuss how your users reacted to the site and the tasks that they were asked to do. DO NOT identify your users. This should be about two pages in length.
UI improvements and recommendations. This is the final section where you need to discuss (about 1 page):
Any the improvements that can be made to the site, along with the reasons for these improvements.
A series of recommended actions in order of priority and why each item has that priority.
Appendix – Survey questions. Here you need to list the survey questions that you asked your users. DO NOT include the users’ answers.
Rationale
This assignment covers the following objectives of this subject:
be able to list and explain the importance of the principles of design in relation to the design of an interface;
be able to evaluate an interface to determine its effective usability and identify enhancements for improvement;
be able to design a set of appropriate usability tests for a given interface;
be able to interpret and evaluate usability testing results to plan interface improvements.