Title:	MULTIMEDIA OBJECTS IN WEB SITE USABILITY PROBLEMATIC
Author(s):	G. Dimauro , A. Fascicolo , S. Impedovo , G. Pirlo , L. Sarcinella
ISBN:	972-98947-0-1
Editors:	António Palma dos Reis and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2003
Edition:	2
Type:	Poster/Demonstration
First Page:	1039
Last Page:	1039
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	The addition of multimedia objects in a web site is nowadays necessary, both to attract the attention of the users, both to provide them a best service. Since multimedia comes with a high price-tag in terms of bandwidth, it should be used sparingly and with care. The goal is to provide a pleasant product, without compromise its usability. The usability test is the best way to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of a web site, both for e-learning and informative sites. In order to optimize time and budget, it would be better to base the whole web site project on the achievement of established usability parameters. This experiment aims to design and implement a simple web site, conforming to the most reliable heuristics for producing a usable web site, with the addition of two particular multimedia sections, that make critical the web sites usability. Then a usability test has been designed and executed on this site and on two other web sites similar in purpose and contents, in order to compare the outcome. The results which emerge from the usability test, compared with the other two web sites, reflect our expectations. Designing a web site, keeping in mind just a few basic principles, produces a better result with a lower maintenance cost, following these standards ensure that users can understand the individual interface elements in the product and that they know where to look for what features. It does not ensure that users will know how to combine the interface features or that the system will have the features users need [Nielsen, 1999]. So it’s always essential a specific usability test, at the end of implementation step. The web site we produced turned out to be more user-friendly than the other contemporary web sites tested. We are now studying further special features and test items that could be added in a usability test when dealing specifically with distance learning in University level courses.
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