zoeken.bibliotheek.nl Usability Review
#	Location	Usability Issue or Problem	Severity	Comments/Recommendation(s)
1	Home page	Navigation. No direct way to just navigate to the Snel Associatief Search page. A quick path to Search In Bibliotheek.nl is a good feature on the Home page, but an option to just go to the full Search page is not directly available. Although there is an Info Over Zoeken link, it would take the user two clicks and some reading to eventually get to the full Search page. In other words, it is not intuitive on how to get to the full Search page or that there is one without doing a search or clicking on the OK button next to the Search field (which is really just submitting a null value to search upon).	medium to high	Provide a link to the main Snel Associatief Search page, perhaps "Search Page", "Search Details", "Advanced Search", or if a separate link does not fit well in the small space allotted, then make the current field title "ZOEK IN BIBLIOTHEEK.NL" link to the main Search page. The full page search is much more understandable to first time users or novice users than the brief Search field on the Home page (besides it may be misleading that this is for searching the site content rather than searching the databases of the national library.
2	Snel Associatief Search page and the rest of the site	Consistency. Inconsistency of use for Home page link. The link used as navigation to the Home page is different on the Search pages than it is for the rest of the site. The Search pages use a spelled out link called Home, while the rest of the site uses an iconic image map as the Home page link. This requires the user to search for and learn two different methods of navigating to the Home page. (Additionally, there is another confounding usage of the logo in the AquaBrowser - refer to issue #28).	medium	Pick one way to navigate to the Home page throughout the entire site; be consistent. At least follow the convention set by the designers of the main site by using the icon of the Bibliotheek.nl. On the other hand, the Home page link spelled out as a word is the most direct way of informing the user on how to get there. Iconic image maps are prevalent on web sites, but they are still not as intuitive to novice web site users as the word "Home". Another alternative to the iconic image map is to make the site title the Home page link throughout the site (i.e., BIBLIOTHEEK.NL at the top of each page of the site) if the other designers are willing to do so.
3	Home page and Snel Associatief Search pages	Web conventions. Link format convention is broken for aesthetic appeal in some places, yet followed in others. Examples of unconventional links are the content links on the Home page (white capitalized words and dark underlined words), and the publication results on the Snel Associatief and Booleaans page (dark non-underlined words). These examples use an unconventional link format rather than blue underlined words for unvisited and purple underlined words for visited links. Having multiple text link formats does not help either. Breaking the convention may look more aesthetically appealing, however doing this requires the user to search more for text links. The result is that it increases the task time and the cognitive load on users to find links or to remember the paths already take.	medium to high	Unless there is an indisputable reason for doing so, follow the established convention for showing links on the page (i.e., blue underline for unvisited links and purple underline for links that have been visited).
4	Home page	Priority and nature of function not clear. Although the quick search field is in a noticeable location on the Home page, users may skip over this area because it is not readily apparent that this field is to be used to find detailed information in the library databases. How important is the task of searching on the Home page or throughout the site? Is searching the databases of the library a primary task? How important is it in relation to the other tasks or content areas for the Bibliotheek.nl? Are users drawn to discover the Search functions based on the current title, field, and link?	medium	Based on research of user tasks, give the search function on the Home page its due prominence. Perhaps elaborate a small bit in the space provided under the field to give users a better guidance for the purpose of the field.
5	Site Map page	Missing information. No mention of search function or search content on the Site Map page for the site (neither is Contact or Help listed here). Not being included in the summary of content will not help direct people to go to or use the associative searching function.	medium	The Zoek in Bibliotheek.nl (Snel Associatief Search page) should be in the Site Map with a brief description of what is it and why it will benefit someone who wants to find information at the bibliotheek.nl site. Inform the designers or owners of Bibliotheek.nl that a Site Map is supposed to map out ALL content on the site, at least all the top level areas of content.
6	Snel Associatief Search page	Hidden information architecture. Access to primary content is not easily achieved from the Search pages. The user is required to go back to the Home page to drill back down to a main content category of the site (e.g., Nieuwsoverzicht, Literatuur, Jeugd, etc.). The primary categories of content should always be accessible with one click from all areas of the web site.	medium	I realize that there is a real estate challenge on the Search page to show the Search controls, associative results, and publication results. However, not including the content categories on this page makes it less apparent how users can go to other areas of the site again. Redesign the Search and results page to include the content categories. If not attainable, then consider opening up a new browser page when the Search function is chosen from the site. The new browser window would only show the Search controls and the search results, thereby leaving the main library site open in the original browser. Although some novice users may not adjust well to the new browser instance, opening a new window may support the task of searching the databases very well.
7	Home page	Nomenclature (terminology) of a function. On Home page, the OK link is not a very descriptive label for the function of searching for the "ZOEK IN BIBLIOTHEEK.NL" text field.	low to medium	Buttons are primarily used on interfaces for performing an action, therefore button labels should clearly and concisely indicate what the action is to be performed. In this case, something like "Search" or "Find" would be more descriptive. The guideline for use of the label "OK"
8	Home page	Graphical representation of a function. The OK links on the Home page are poor indicators that they will perform a function with any data supplied in the fields.	medium	Commands or actions to be performed through an interface are better represented by graphical buttons than just words. This has been a guideline for user interfaces long before web pages and is still a good guideline to follow consistently throughout a web site. Although designers on the web use many different graphical representations for commands, actions, and functions, following established UI guidelines for such controls will help users to better understand how to perform a function. Examples of search buttons can be found at yahoo.com, go.com, google.com, excite.com, and even the loc.gov (Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Msn.com uses a variety of graphical buttons.
9	Throughout site	Increased cognitive load on users. The Help, Home, Sitemap, and Contact navigation bar is more difficult to process in it's vertical orientation (e.g., cognitive processing, readability, etc.), and furthermore the order is based on word size rather than content importance, frequency of usage, or another logical order. Although this is not designed by MediaLab, the layout and order of the navigation bar affects the usability of the Search page when users need to navigate to another area of the site.	low to medium	Recommend to the Bibliotheek.nl designers that the navigation bar orientation be rotated to horizontal and ordered by task/content usage rather than purely aesthetic graphical pattern appeal. Likewise, I recommend left justifying lists because scanning, reading, and searching is easier when the beginning of words or sentences are aligned at the beginning of the words. There is plenty of room to rotate and reorder the primary navigation bar in the same area of the page.
10	Search pages	Missing titles. Lack of a clear title that tells the user where they are or what to expect from the Search page. The tabs labels are for grouping or discerning one type of search from the other, they are not good titles for the page the user is on. The same can be said about each section of the overall site. There should be a top-level title for the page to help users know exactly where they are. (There is an attempt to do this by highlighting the appropriate navigation bar selection, and also by putting a small blue box next to the content areas or using a navigation path when drilling down deeper into the content areas.)	low to medium	Give the page a real title that is understandable to users. At least use the same term that is chosen as the label in the Search box on the rest of the site, i.e., "Zoek in Bibliotheek.nl".
11	Snel Associatief Search page	Complex design. Overall the concept of searching for specific information in the library databases is relatively sophisticated compared to just browsing around content at leisure. The use of a metaphor may help the user to perform a search task and to understand the results.	high	Consider the use of a metaphor like "ask the librarian" in addition to the current method of smell associative. This type of metaphor could be set up in a stepwise serious of questions from the "librarian" (basically a task wizard approach) to get at the search details and then for refining the results until the requested information is found.
12	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance, i.e., visual clues of the function of an object(s). Overall the design and layout of the Snel Associatief Search page gives very little visual affordance for what the user should do to conduct a search and find the information that they desire.	high	Design the page to give a clear indication of what the page is for and also provide the correct direction or flow of steps in the process.
13	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance. The design and layout of the search results on the Snel Associatief Search page gives very little visual affordance for what the user should do with the results of the search. Controls for the search results (all, books, newspapers, and web site reviews) are not very meaningful in the context shown, especially when a search has not yet begun.	high	Design the page to give a clear indication of what the results are and for the steps in the results process. Make it more apparent that these options are here to help the user to sort and find the information that they are look for. Consider not showing the fields when there is not data to sort.
14	Snel Associatief Search page	Efficiency of use. Overall design of the sort controls for the search results (all, books, newspapers, and web site reviews) is much too sophisticated for novice users and probably even average users. The controls slide around, and descriptions only appear after a control is clicked are shown and then take up real estate, thereby moving other controls out of sight, and making more complicated to use these again.	high	Research the usage of these controls. Eliminate unnecessary controls, and/or simplify the design of this control set. Users should better be able to understand what the controls do for them, and to encourage the users to utilize these controls during their searches. Basically, balance the need for functionality with ease of usage for these types of controls.
15	Snel Associatief Search page	Nomenclature. Snel Associative does not seem to be a very meaningful term for searching by word association. What is this being compared to that makes this "quick", it is Booleaans?	low	Perhaps "Search by Association", "Associative Searching", or some such phrase may be more meaningful. In the current design there is only the Snel Associatief, the Booleaans, and the brief Search field on the Home page, which the latter seems to be more of a "quick" search than the other two pages.
16	Booleaans Search page	Graphical representation of function; lack of affordance. The Zoek graphical link on the Booleaans page is not readily apparent as a functional command for the fields that they follow. Users are more drawn to three dimensional buttons for performing an action than to a nice flat font style graphic. I realize that just pressing the Enter key on the keyboard will perform the function, but a button clearly labeled with the action it will take helps to reinforce what they are entering in the field and what to do next.	low	Consider redesigning the image to be more like a 3D button. Three dimensional buttons stand out and better represent actions that users can take on objects or data.
17	Snel Associatief Search page	Graphical representation of function; lack of affordance.. The search image (graphical link for search) on the Snel Associative Search page is not very apparent that it will perform the search function. Likewise, it is inconsistent with the same graphical image on the Booleaans page. The lack of a label further reduces the overall visual affordance of the function and about the whole search page.	medium	Again a 3D button with a descriptive label is best, but at minimum match the search graphic used on the Booleaans page.
18	Snel Associatief Search page	Instructional support. The description of what to do on the Snel Associative Search page does not cover all the necessary steps for searching and understanding the results. User will be left with a very vague notion of what to do. As it stands, the user has to guess where to enter search words in the upper left corner (no labels) and it sounds as if there should already be words to click on the left side.	high	Summarize the function in the first sentence or two. Continue with a more in-depth explanation of what to do, what they will get (the results), what the results mean, and what else can be done to tweak the search or to get more specific about what they wish to find. With the complexity of this powerful search tool (i.e., the need to do multiple steps and what the results mean), the set of instructions here are the best chance to explain and encourage a user to actually use the Snel Associatief Search page.
19	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance. Begin Opnieuw image is probably not meaningful enough to lead a user to the function unless the user moves the mouse over the image. This image is more similar to the "Refresh" or "Reload" images on browser buttons (even though the arrows move in the opposite direction), which would not indicate that a new search can be started. Users will likely make frequent errors and be frustrated when attempting to start a new search. More than likely they will hit the back button until trying to get back far enough to move forward, but won't really be able to since all the frames do not move back to the beginning.	medium	This type of function may be better represented by a button rather than a flat graphic. Also, it would be better if the image/button didn't appear except in situations where it is relevant, i.e., only after a search has begun. Finally, the location of the button may be better suited somewhere else on the page.
20	Snel Associatief Search page	Task flow. The layout of the search and results controls does not flow with the task at hand. Begin Opnieuw is not the first thing a person will do to conduct a search, yet it is positioned first.	low	Reposition the controls and results to give a better total task flow from start to finish, including the results obtained and the possibility of conducting a new search.
21	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance. The search keyword field is not labeled at all. This makes it less likely that a user intending to search will actually figure out what to do and try to conduct an associative search.	high	Label the field as "keywords" or "type your search words" "what do you wish to find?", or something else descriptive of the fields purpose will better help the user to accomplish his/her task, especially novice users.
22	Snel Associatief Search page	Design alternative. In the current layout of the Snel Associatief Search page, the tabs are an adequate way to group the two mutually exclusive ways of searching. However, the use of tabs on this page may be better utilized for the search results rather than the type of search.	low	A possible design option is to have the user click on a tab to sort the data, or to better view the groups of results by type of data. Alles tab would contain all results, Boeken tab would contain the subset of results in Boeken, and so on. If this option were to test out good with users, then the Booleaans requirement would still be treated as secondary by putting the option to link somewhere within the Snel Associatief page.
23	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance; programming bug. No rollover term for the two arrow images that appear to be back and forward controls below the associative results area. The only thing that there is for these images on rollover is that it says "Applet started" in the browser status bar.	low	On rollover of the back and forward images show a meaningful term for the images.
24	Snel Associatief Search page	System state. Back and forward controls below the associative results area should not appear clickable in conditions when there is no function to them. This state will likely confuse users, or cause frustration.	low	Either visually grey out (disable) the controls, or even better, do not show the images/controls at all unless they can be used in the current state of the page. E.g., enable the back button once there are results on the page for which a back function can be performed. Likewise, enable or show the forward button when it is relevant.
25	Snel Associatief Search page	System state; programming bug. Some of the words in the associative results area are sometimes hidden or partially hidden from view. This will also likely confuse users, or cause frustration.	medium	Revise programming to ensure that all words in the associative results area are in full view
	Web Page Dialog	Good design element. The use of the Sluiten button on the web page dialog that opens after selecting a boek, vakwijzer, or kranten is very good. It clearly tells the user what to do with the dialog once finished.	-	Reiterated suggestion: The use of this type of graphical button would enhance the usability of various functions throughout the site, just like the use of the Sluiten button does. Buttons on an interface are one of the most fundamental UI elements that users learn. Using them appropriately for representing actions that can be taken by the user will help the user to understand how to perform the task.
26	Web Page Dialog	Efficiency of use; increased cognitive load. Forcing the user to write down or memorize the information on the web page dialog is very unfriendly. The user has now found a good result and may want to go get it at the library, whether they are already there or at home/office/school. It is best to give the user control to print the information rather than writing it down on paper. The browser Print function will not print the (pop up) dialog, but rather the web page from whence the dialog came.	medium	Provide a Print function on the web page dialog that just prints the information in the dialog.
27	Snel Associatief Search page	Programmatic or graphical overhead. It seems to consistently take a long time to reload (refresh) search results and for the results to fully appear on the screen for either the associative results or the publication results (the books, web sites, etc. to the right). Likewise, going back to a previous associative word or starting over seems to take a long time to reload as well. (I am connected to the net via a cable modem. If I were using a 56K dial-up connection these times would seem unbearable.)	medium	Investigate whether programmatic or graphical overhead is the cause of the slow reloading of results. (This is not the usually the case the first time that the search parameter is entered and the first time the results are displayed). It doesn't seem to be the access time to databases because the first search seems to display the results quickly.
28	Snel Associatief Search page	Consistency. Inconsistent use of the Bibliotheek.nl logo. The logo in the associative result area is clickable, but nothing happens. This may be confusing to users that have learned that clicking the logo takes them back to the Home page of the site as it does throughout the rest of the site.	low to medium	Either disable the logo in the associative area, or enable it to navigate the user back to the Home page like it does on all pages of the site (except the current version of the Search page).
29	Snel Associatief Search page	Navigation. Problems with using the browser Back button and the display of correct data in each of the frames. Pressing the Back button in the browser correctly reloads the publication list and puts the correct word into the search field, but it does not correctly navigate the associative area "back" each step.	medium to high	Browser and/or programmatic issue.
30	Snel Associatief Search page	Programming bug? Problems with the data in the associative results area when the "start" link below it is clicked. Clicking on Start appears to affect the associative results with the word "start", rather than taking the user back to the start of the current search. The user never entered "start" into the search, it makes it unclear how the results are affected and may require the user to start the search completely over.	high	Remove "Start" from below the associative results area or correct the apparent programming bug to take the user back to the beginning of the current search.
31	Snel Associatief Search page	Browser function. Search field automatically stores previous searches and displays them in a drop down control for the search field. This is done when there is a character match during typing or when the user double-clicks the field while it is empty. It's good for some users to use this browser control function to present previously entered search strings, but there may be a problem with this when too many extraneous strings are presented from other sets of data captured on other sites or other fields. For example, I had data in the drop down from weeks ago and from totally unrelated sites.	low to medium	Try to programmatically restrict the data that populates the drop down list to data that has been previously entered into this specific search field.  (Also a word of caution depending on the skill level of the average Bibliotheek.nl user, this may also be a bit tricky for novice users since this is a very advanced control for them. For years, I've observed novice users struggle with how to select an item in a drop down list, how to dismiss the list, or in a scenario like this one just plain get confused with why it exists in the first place. In the latter case, users will begin typing, look up after a couple of letters to make sure that they are typing correctly, see the drop down, get confused, click on something or somewhere to get rid of the list, etc., and at this point they either back up and start over or they give up with frustration.)
32	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance; nomenclature. The appearance of "Persoon" under the search field may not be very meaningful in the search context. Users may not know if this is a description of the results or if this is a control, and therefore may never click it. Likewise, the switch between "Persoon" and "aquabrowser" once one or the other is selected may not be understandable. Users may wonder what is happening when one is selected and then the other appears.	low to medium	As a control to help the user refine the search results, it probably should be redesigned with the other sort controls to be less complicated to use correctly. The term "aquabrowser" may not be meaningful to users. This is related to the overall problem of what to name, and therefore, label the areas of the Snel Associatief fields and controls.
33	Snel Associatief Search page	Lack of affordance. Functionality is effectively hidden because of the complexity of the results, sorting, and also from the shear volume of information that is available for many of the searches. Having used the aquabrowser for a couple of days now, it wasn't until near the end of my evaluation that I finally clicked on the Genre link after clicking on Boeken. I had searched on my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut, and of course found many publications. I sorted by the different sorts, watched the controls slide around, saw what seemed to be a text description appear nearby, but never clicked on them for the longest time. I may have figured that it had done all that it would do, or I may have been overlooking it because it looked like simple text not a link or a function. In fact, many of the labels after the sort controls are just text, but they all look alike until a mouse over happens.	medium to high	Redesign to invite users to explore the functionality and to more readily see, or experience, the effect that the controls have on the data. Likewise, use more conventional link formats, or make controls look more like controls rather than just text. Perhaps some type of message should be shown that reaffirms what the effect was. Perhaps there should be a noticeable change in the data. This is a little troubling because once the user sees and experiences the tremendous power of the search tool, then they are bound to use it more. As it is, this powerful tool may be overlooked far too much by the majority of users.
34	Booleaans Search page	Design conventions. Non-standard usage of punctuation after a sentence, and lack of it after field labels on the Booleaans page.	low	Change the colon ( : ) after "U kunt hier op specifieke velden zoeken:" to a period, and place a colon after each of the field labels below it. Microsoft Windows guidelines are to user a colon after field labels, however it is not a strict guideline on web interfaces. It is, however, a guideline to establish the site convention and to follow it consistently throughout the site.
35	Booleaans Search page	Lack of affordance; missing information. Booleaans search page does not give instruction and/or examples of Boolean search strings. It assumes that the user already knows how to do such a search. The various fields are great, but go one step further and give some guidance to novice users and the Boolean uninitiated.	low	Although most users of Boolean searches are power users that already know how to do this type of search, give clear instructions and examples of doing a Boolean search on this page so that novice users may learn how to do these types of searches, especially if they do not exactly find what they are looking for in the Snel Associative search.
	Throughout site [SEE NEXT ISSUE]	Use a more descriptive term for Help on the navigation bar. Since the content under Help is only about searching the databases at the national library, the terse term Help may lead the user to think that there is information contained regarding other topics of interest, e.g., where to find a library, what are the hours of operation, how to find a book or other material in one of the libraries, etc. [SEE NEXT ISSUE]	-	Suggested terms are "Help with Searching", "Search Help", "About Searching", etc. in order to avoid confusion with non-existent content for the site. [SEE NEXT ISSUE]
36	Throughout site	System state. Apparently there is a sort of context sensitive type of Help (different Help content depending on if the user is on the Home page versus the Search page). Users may be confused by this because the same Help graphic in the navigation bar is highlighted regardless of the actual help page the user is currently viewing. When the user is on the Help page for Searching (Info over zoeken) the same Help graphic in the navigation bar is highlighted and clicking on it does not take me to any other Help page that exists, even though there is another Help page.	medium	Recommendation is to have a single Help page with all Help content, and to make it context sensitive in that it directs the user to the specific section or topic on the Help page depending from which page the Help link was selected. This way the user gets directed to the specific Help content but has the rest of the Help information available to him/her at the same time. It does seem to be a good idea to open a new browser window (keeping in mind that this may confuse some users or inflame others) so that users can view the Help content and make progress through the interface (see also comments for next issue).
37	Throughout site	Inconsistency. Clicking on the Help navigation link behaves differently depending on where the user is when s/he clicks on it. Clicking the Help link on the rest of the site loads the general Help page for the site within the same browser window, yet while clicking on the Help link in the associative search page opens a new browser window with full functionality also available.	medium	The inconsistent content and behavior will confuse users. I agree that it is a good idea to open a new browser that allows the user to remain where they are in the current search, and get help at the same time. This is very good design.
38	Help for Snel Associatief Search page	System state. A potentially confusing and frustrating situation may be created in the current implementation of the Help page for Snel Associatief. Because the whole site is recreated in the new window, some users may lose themselves by navigating through the new browser instance or think that they lost all their current search information and start over (especially in the case of small screens/monitor resolutions).	low	Modify the current implementation to limit the content to just the Help content in the newly opened browser rather than the full site.
39	Booleaans Search page	Missing information; inconsistency. No Help page or information available when the user clicks Help link while on the Booleaans Search page.	low	Provide Help information for the Booleaans Search page, and provide consistent access to it like the other Help content.
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