Working Title: Traveling Italy Off the Beaten Path - The Tourist's Guide to Experiencing the Country Like a Local.

Report Author: Jessica E. Gonzales, jessica.e.gonzales@gmail.com

Date: December 12, 2009

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Brief Profile of Users

Three people participated in the Beta User Test. Two of the participants had experience designing websites.  All participants said they enjoyed traveling and could see the benefit from an a-typical online travel guide.

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Think Aloud Task

Find where the Itinerary section is on the website. Determine if the information on the Itinerary section is beneficial.  Move to the Pro Advice section, and determine if you’ve heard any of this information before, and do you consider these to be tips of the ‘travel pros.’

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Summary of Think Aloud

Participants were able to easily find all sub pages and navigated through the site with ease.  One of the participants found the information on the site to be “full of useful tips that you normally don’t heard about.”  Overall, all participants said they found the information to be “reader-friendly” and advocated for more images throughout.

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Summary of Posttest Interview

One user suggested deleting the footer image that appears on each webpage.  I disagree.

One user commented on the use of white space throughout the website, indicating that he liked the used of white space.  However, a second user found there to be too much white space and suggested the use of a background image/watermark.  Navigation was very good, and users found the information to be informative, interesting facts that they hadn’t heard before.

I am going to keep some white space throughout the site – I think it makes it appear less cluttered, simple and easy to read.  However, I will be selecting few images that I think help illustrate the copy on each webpage.

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Findings to be Implemented

Given the feedback provided, I will implement the following:

    * Incorporate photos throughout the site
    * Use white space more wisely

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Findings that will not be Implemented

    * I will not be deleting the footer image, as suggested by one user. The header and footer image comes from the same photograph I took while in Italy, and I spliced it to create the two images.  I think the footer image (person walking on path through Italian vineyard) helps to illustrate the title and purpose of this website.