Group Members:

Xin Yang Yak (xyak@)
Gabriel Chen (gcthree@)
Peter Yu (keunwooy@)

i. Most severe problems

The most severe problems we found with the site are listed as follows, with their corresponding violations:

H2: Unrealistic names and uncommon abbreviations for discussion subforum links.
H6: Homepage is recall dependent, lacking icons for recognition.
H7: Lack of login page impedes efficient use.
H8: Discussion subforum interface is cluttered and not minimalistic.
H10: Help function uses google site search and documentation is not thorough.

ii. Problems exposed by Nielsen’s heuristics

We wouldn’t have thought to look at the help functionality of Craigslist if it weren’t included in the list of heuristics. The problems with its functionality were exposed by the list.

iii. Usability problems beyond Nielsen’s heuristics

The site was aesthetically bad and discourages users from using it. The site looks unreliable, which is not a good quality for an ecommerce site.

Possible additional heuristics should thus incorporate the site’s look and feel, and how welcoming it is toward a user.

iv. Class discussion questions

1. What are the limitations of Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation?
2. What are the shortcomings of Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation?
3. Apply heuristic evaluation to the HCI course website.
4. What is the timeframe of Nielsen’s heuristic evaluations? Will the evaluation criteria persist as technology evolves?

Links

Xin Yang: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LwwD1IGgCtKNfSXfeZU5TNabKaD32M2Srjl3vhDrHp0/edit?usp=sharing

Gabriel: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xs801hxemaiwa5b/A3.pdf

Peter: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpwhr9btafk3f1b/inclass.pdf