Pictures (first iteration of prototype):

User Briefing*:*

You're a high school student in search of a book to read. You want to know what your friends are reading, and you want them to read books you have previously read. This way you can bond over your shared reading experiences!

Tasks:

The scenario given to test users A, B, and C in the first round of testing is the following:

1) Add Allison Abernathy as a friend.

2) See what Allison is reading and has read.

3) Find out what Twilight is about.

4) You decide you don't like Twilight; back to Allison's page.

5) Read what Holes is about and add it to your shelf.

6) Recommend Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone to Jason James.

7) Remove Librarian Lady from your friends.

The scenario given to D, E, and F in the second round of testing is the following:

1) You are looking for a book to read later. Find one in which you would be interested later.

2) Add Allison Abernathy as a friend.

3) Find out who is reading the same book as you.

4) Recommend the book to another friend.

5) Delete the librarian from your friends list.

Usability Issues, Round 1:

• The fastest way to recommend the book wasn't very clear. (Users A, B, C)
  
• Lack of consistency regarding what was clickable. (Users B, C)
• Back buttons were hard to find (User B)
• User wanted a confirmation after recommending a book. (User B)
  
• The label "Books" was misleading. User would have preferred "Find" or "Search" (User C)
  
• Didn't understand the social aspect of the app if it didn't give users the ability to converse via comments about the book. (User A, C)
  
• Assumed the "My Shelf" books would link to an e-reader that allowed them to actually read the books.(User C)
• One user suggested to have a "top reads" section to find popular books. (User A)

Further observations included

Changes between versions:

• Made clickable links consistent (all the same color and underlined)
• Moved Back button higher on the page
• Added confirmation for recommending book
• Added comments for books
• Made it possible to recommend books from both the book's page and a friend's page
• Renamed "My Shelf" to "My Reading List"

Usability Issues, Round 2:

• Unclear how to add friends (user didn't know what the search bar on Friends page was for) (User D)
• One person didn't know "Navigate," "Friends," etc. were clickable (Users D, E)
• Users thought "Navigate" option was unclear: most useful suggestion was "Home" (Users E, F)
• The navigation screen was not that easy to find because of the changing tab names (mentioned in feedback and Users D, E). User E suggested to have a static navigation bar at the very top of the screen.
• Coloring scheme was easy to follow; however some users thought that it was difficult to tell the links were links because there were many on the same page, all of the same color. (User E)
• Some users suggested that it would be useful to be able to suggest books to groups of people. This follows from our discussion in class on including groups for our webapp. (User F)

Studio Discussion

In response to comments received during studio and testing, we have identified two key issues: the "tabbing" layout and the social aspect of the webapp. We have decided that the title tabs need to be changed and the layout reworked; furthermore, we need to expand the social aspect of the webapp. Further, the inclusion of reader comments and ratings will further help the quality of our webapp.