Usability testing was based on the remote web usability testing method, using OpenWebSurvey.
The questionnaire was conducted on 63 subjects, who all belonged to the target group for the website.
The participants were firstly asked to insert some personal data, as the age, the sex, their profession and interests. The tests were carried out with test participants who fulfilled the following requirements:
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• they were between 18 and 55 years old, divided into three main age groups:
• 18-30 years old;
• 30-40 years old;
• 40-55 years old.
• they had already bought on the Internet or were willing to do so;
• they were both non-experienced and experienced Internet users;
• they were already users of shopping.msn.it web site.
Among the participants the number of men and women was almost equal (30 women, 33 men).
The Internet experience of the participants was classified according to two variables:
• Internet background: since when they connect to the Internet;
• connection frequency: how many times do they connect to the Internet each week.
Regarding the connection background we decide to have three main groups:
• persons that connect to the Internet since 6 months;
• persons that connect to the Internet since 1 year;
• persons that connect to the Internet since more than 1 year.
Regarding the connection frequency we decide to have three main groups:
• persons that connect to the Internet every day;
• persons that connect to the Internet every 2/3 days;
• persons that connect to the Internet every week or less.
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These data are very important when performing an usability test because it should always be considered that probably the usability issues and the problems reported by an experienced user are different from the ones reported by a non skilled user.
Then we decided several tasks to be performed by the users, considering three main areas:
• navigation tasks
• placement of information tasks
• information retrieval tasks
Among the navigation tasks we included all the tasks oriented to test the navigational structure of the web site, as:
• how many subcategories can you find in the category Archive?
• how many suggestions are present in the DVD category?
Among the placement of information tasks we included all the task oriented to test how the information is placed inside the web site, as:
• find the newsletter page;
• find a flash item ("Colpo di Fulmine") link in home page a nd click it.
Among the information retrieval tasks we included scenarios to test if it is easy to find an information inside the web site:
• find the page dedicated to "Internet bookshop" and find the number of the customer care help desk;
• find a bag that costs less than 70 euros and then report the name of the model;
• find the "Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone" book and write the name of the shop that sells it at less.
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The questionnaire submitted to the users consisted in both questions and users scenarios, and has been written in Triple-s XML in order to insert it easily in OpenWebSurvey.
In Table 10 you will find the listing of the XML code of the questionnaire.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sss SYSTEM "triple-s.dtd">
<sss version="1.1" options="standardnames">
<title>Valuta il sito shopping.msn.it</title>
<record ident="V">
<variable ident="1" type="character">
<name>et&agrave; </name>
<label>Quanti anni hai?
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site =
"True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="button" -->
</label>
"True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="button" -->
</label>
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="button" -->
</label>
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<label>Qual'e' il tuo titolo di studio?
<!-- base_url =
"http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site = "True"; seconds="150";
variable_type="button" -->
</label>
<position start="4"/>
<values>
<value code="1">Licenza media </value>
<value code="2">Licenza superiore</value>
<value code="3">Laurea</value>
<value code="4">Master o Dottorato in Ricerca</value>
<value code="5">Altro</value>
</values>
</variable>
<variable ident="5" type="single">
<name>useofinternet</name>
<label>Da quanto tempo navighi in rete?
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site =
"True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="button" -->
</label>
<position start="5"/>
<values>
<value code="1">6 mesi</value>
<value code="2">1 anno</value>
<value code="3">più di 1 anno</value>
</values>
</variable>
<variable ident="6" type="single">
<name>internetfrequency</name>
<label>Quanto spesso ti colleghi ad Internet?
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site =
"True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="button" -->
</label>
<position start="6"/>
<values>
<value code="1">1 volta al giorno o più</value>
<value code="2">2/3 volte alla settimana</value>
<value code="3">1 volta alla settimana o meno</value>
</values>
</variable>
<variable ident="7" type="character">
<name>suggerimenti</name>
<label>Quanti suggerimenti ci sono nella categoria DVD?
Quando lo scopri, per favori scrivi la cifra nella casella qui sotto. <!-- base_url =
"http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site = "True"; seconds="150";
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<label>Quante sottocategorie ci sono nella categoria Archivio? Quando lo scopri, per favori scrivi la cifra nella casella qui sotto. <!-- base_url =
"http://shopping.msn.it"; show_site = "True"; seconds="150";
variable_type="field"; variable_answer="implicit" -->
Cerca una borsa da donna che costi meno di 70 euro.
Quando l’hai trovata scrivi il nome del modello nella casella qui sotto.
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="field" -->
</label>
<position start="" />
</variable>
<variable ident="10" type="character">
<name>negozi</name>
<label>Raggiungi la pagina di presentazione del negozio IBS. Quando l’hai trovata, cerca il numero di telefono del
servizio clienti e riportalo nella casella qui sotto.
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_type="field";
variable_answer="implicit" -->
Cerca il libro "Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale".
Quando l'hai trovato scrivi il nome del negozio che lo vende a meno.
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_answer="field"-->
</label>
<position start="" />
</variable>
<variable ident="12" type="character">
<name>newsletter</name>
<label>Raggiungi la pagina per iscriverti alla
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newsletter
<!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_answer="implicit" -->
</label>
<position start="" />
</variable>
<variable ident="13" type="character">
<name>colpo_di_fulmine</name>
<label>Clicca su un colpo di fulmine in home page <!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_answer="implicit" -->
</label>
<position start="" />
</variable>
<variable ident="14" type="character">
<name>colpo_di_fulmine</name>
<label>Clicca su un colpo di fulmine in home page <!-- base_url = "http://shopping.msn.it";
show_site = "True"; seconds="150"; variable_answer="implicit" -->
</label>
Table 10 - Triple-s code