Post Baccalaureate Adventures

Jae Gaswirth

Kassandra Finklea

Alpha Test

Working Title: Post Baccalaureate Adventures

Report Author: Jae Gaswirth

Date: 11/19/2009

Profile of User 2:

Two individuals took part in the Alpha Test. Both are graduate students in the Journalism and Media Studies department and are currently enrolled in EdTec 541. Neither had viewed the specified website before and both expressed interest in learning about the adventures entailed on the website.

Think Aloud Test:

Please click through each of the slide shows and events linked on the left and read through each of the blurbs describing the event.

Summary of Think Aloud:

Both users initially clicked through all the links on the page to test their functionality. All pages worked correctly, and one user mentioned that the links were easy to find and self-explanatory in nature. Another user mentioned scrolling down through the pages a lot to find the content and that there was a great deal of white on the screen. While reading the blurbs, one user noticed a few grammatical errors and spacing issues between text and pictures.

Summary of Post-Interview:

Both users found the page easy to navigate and easy to read. Both commented that the title on the homepage and subsequent pages was somewhat difficult to read due to the color and should be made slightly larger and a darker shade or orange. One user suggested that the spacing on the page may need to be tightened up a bit and that there was potentially too much white on the page. Another user mentioned liking the spacing and thought that in order to possibly fill the space better the pictures could be made slightly larger. Both users were adequately able to navigate back to the homepage from each event page with ease. One user suggested adding individual pictures to each page along with the title. Both users also recommended potentially adding more photos of certain events.

Findings to be implemented

As a result of the Alpha Test, I hope to implement the following:

1. Change the color of the banner (possibly make it larger and darker)

2. Tighten up the spacing on the page in order to eliminate some of the scrolling necessary.

3. Add more photos where possible.

4. Tighten the spacing between the text and the photos on the homepage.

Findings that will not be implemented

Although a user may have recommended it, I do not intend to change:

1. I don’t intend to add individual pictures to each title/banner on event homepages. I am concerned that this may make the page too cluttered.

2. I don’t intend to make the slideshows any larger on the page because they link to an external page which enlargers the picture. I think enlarging the slideshow on the individual pages may take too much away from the text describing the event.