Heuristic Evaluation of HolidayInn.comfchevali/teaching/... · Then the team completed individual...
Transcript of Heuristic Evaluation of HolidayInn.comfchevali/teaching/... · Then the team completed individual...
Heuristic Evaluation of
HolidayInn.com.cn Holiday Inn Hotel Booking Site for Chinese Speaking Users
Completed by Team CBR:
Yufei Duan Yina Li Ying Li
Qianying Liu Niven Sellars
Michael Somer
February 7, 2008
Heuristic Evaluation February 2008 www.HolidayInn.com.cn
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TEAM CBR Yufei Duan, Yina Li, Ying Li,
Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
Table of Contents
Heuristic Evaluation Overview for www.holidayinn.com.cn ..................................................................................... 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Heuristic Evaluation Findings ..................................................................................................................................4
1. Visibility of System Status ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
2. Match Between System and the Real World ..................................................................................................................................... 6
3. Consistency and Standards .............................................................................................................................................................. 13
4. Error Prevention .............................................................................................................................................................................. 19
5. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design .................................................................................................................................................... 20
6. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors ............................................................................................................ 21
7. Help and Documentation ................................................................................................................................................................ 23
Findings and Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 24
Key Findings .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Heuristic Evaluation February 2008 www.HolidayInn.com.cn
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TEAM CBR Yufei Duan, Yina Li, Ying Li,
Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Heuristic Evaluation Overview for www.holidayinn.com.cn Introduction This heuristic evaluation of the www.holidayinn.com.cn was completed on February 7, 2007, as a preliminary step in the preparation
for a usability test of the site. The evaluation was completed by the project team after a careful review of the website. From the
information provided by the sponsor, the project team learned that the audience of the website is mostly domestic Chinese (mainland)
users. They book hotel rooms online for business and/or leisure purposes. Their ages span from the mid-twenties to the fifties. Most
of them are not comfortable using computers. The majority of them do not speak or read English.
To accomplish the users’ goal of booking rooms on the website, the Holiday Inn (China) website must successfully guide users
through the site.
Purpose The purpose of this heuristic evaluation is to discover any potential usability weaknesses that might confuse users. The findings from
the evaluation will be used to design appropriate scenarios for the usability test.
Methodology The project team evaluated the website from a Chinese user’s point of view. In our preliminary meeting, the team reviewed the overall
structure and content of the site and determined our scenario, which is the process of booking or modifying a hotel room on the site.
Then the team completed individual heuristic evaluations. In the follow-up meeting, the team compiled the individual evaluations.
The site was evaluated based on Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics, which have been adapted for the web and presented in Dr. Carol
Barnum’s text, Usability Testing and Research.
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TEAM CBR Yufei Duan, Yina Li, Ying Li,
Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
Heuristic Evaluation Findings 1. Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
A. URL file name
mismatch
When the URL
www.holidayinn.com.cn is
opened, the URL at the top of
the page changes into
http://www.ichotelsgroup.co
m/h/d/hi/280/zh/home.
This may confuse users,
causing them to think this is
not a legitimate site.
Suggestion:
Do not redirect the URL to a
different name; instead keep
the address at
www.holidayinn.com.cn
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
B. No obvious way to go
back to Holiday Inn
site from Priority Club
site
Users may not understand the
relationship among Holiday
Inn, Priority Club, and other
IHG hotels. In China, people
are not familiar with the
concept of one corporation
owning multiple brands. If
the users are directed to the
Priority Club site, they can
easily get lost. The only way
they can go back to the
Holiday Inn site is to hit the
Back button or the Holiday
Inn icon near the bottom of
the site.
Suggestion:
Create an easily identifiable
button that will take users to
where they were before they
were directed away from the
Holiday Inn site.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
2. Match between system and the real world The system should speak the user’s language, with words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented
terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
A. Unrecognizable logo
Users may not recognize the
Holiday Inn logo because it
is displayed in English. The
only way users will know
they are on a Holiday Inn
website is if they look at the
words displayed in the
header.
Suggestion:
Design a matching
logo in Chinese
Have a brief
description in
Chinese underneath
the logo
The English logo is not
recognizable for the
Chinese audience.
The audience must go to one
of these two locations, which
give the hotel name in
Chinese.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
B. Awkward phrasing
This translation does not make sense. It is awkwardly phrased as “receive Holiday Inn promoted sales (discount) activities.”
Suggestion:
Use localized language, not
just direct translation. It should read, “receive promotional sales discount information.”
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
C. Awkward phrasing
When searching for hotels,
users are sometimes
requested to enter “State.”
“State” has a different
meaning for Chinese users.
The equivalent word for
Chinese users is “province.”
Since the number of Holiday
Inns is limited in China, it is
easier for the user to just
select the city without being
asked to select a province.
Suggestions:
Use “Province”
instead of “State”
Provide a dropdown
menu of the
locations/cities, and
do not include the
option of
province/state
In this screen, instead of asking
for “Province,” it asks users to
enter “State (US/Canada)”. This
may confuse Chinese users,
since the word “State” refers to
the government level between
city and province in some
provinces.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
D. Awkward phrasing
The option in this dropdown
menu translates into “a
super large bed.” This
translation does not make
sense to a Chinese user.
They refer to bed size by
measurements.
Suggestions:
Use localized language for
sizes of beds:
King size: 1.98mx2.03m
Queen: 1.50mx2.00m
Single: 1.20mx1.90m
One of the options in this
dropdown is “one super large
bed,” which is a direct
translation of “king size bed.”
Instead, use “bed size: 1.98m
x 2.03m” to make sense to
the Chinese user.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
E. American currency
Much of the pricing information refers to American currency. Users
may have to calculate the
actual cost in Chinese
currency, and this can be
time consuming or
impossible when they do not
know the exchange rate.
Some screens use CNY. This
may be an acronym for
China’s Yuan. However, it is
not readily understood by
Chinese users.
Suggestion:
Use “元” (yuan) or
¥instead of dollars and $.
In the parking information,
“Parking Fee/day: CNY 34.0”
does not make sense because
CNY is not terminology used
by Chinese people.
The Chinese user has to
calculate American dollars
into Chinese Yuan.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
F. Phone number display
The phone number displays
as “1 888 HOLIDAY”. Most
users in China do not know
how to numerically enter
“HOLIDAY” on their
telephones. Also, this is not
the booking phone number
for mainland China. Users
who dial this number will be
connected to U.S.
representatives. The users
will not expect to reach a U.S.
representative, nor will they
be able to successfully book a
hotel room.
Suggestion:
Use a localized number so
that users can speak to
someone who speaks Chinese.
Most Chinese audience
will not know how to
numerically enter
“HOLIDAY” on their
telephones.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
G. Unrecognizable trust
organization
Users may not know what
this icon means.
Suggestions:
Explain the icon
within a sentence in
Chinese
Use a comparable
trust organization in
China
The English icon may not be recognizable
for the Chinese audience if they do not
speak English.
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3. Consistency and standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform
conventions.
A. Buttons that are not links
These buttons in the
Chinese map are cities and
provinces of Holiday Inn
locations in China. They
look like they are links to
other pages, but they are
not. Users may be confused
by this map.
Suggestion:
Make the buttons links.
The buttons on the map are
cities and provinces having
Holiday Inns. However,
these buttons are not links.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
B. Inconsistent language
On the top of the home
page, the Priority Club is in
English. Down at the left
column, it is spelled out in
Chinese characters. Users
will not recognize the
English “Priority Club.”
Suggestion:
Use Chinese characters for
all the information in this
site.
Priority Club is displayed in
both English and Chinese
on the home page. It may
confuse the audience.
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C. Inconsistent navigation
The navigation on top of
the subpages is different
from the home page.
Suggestion:
Use consistent navigation.
Navigation on the home page reads “Hotel Reservation,” “Phone
Services for Hotel Reservation,” “Conferences,” and “Destination
Information.”
The navigation on the subpages reads “First Time Here,” “Hotel
Reservation,” “Special Offers,” “Phone Services for Hotel
Reservation,” and “Destination Information.”
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
D. Confusing search results
In the search results by
hotel, the hotel’s
information is
displayed with two
distinct background
colors: one color for the
Holiday Inn logo, and
another for the specific
hotel. Users may think
that there are two
hotels being displayed.
Suggestion:
Use a consistent
background color for a
hotel, and change it for
the next one in the
search results.
The hotel is displayed
in two background
colors, making it look
like two hotels. This
may confuse users.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
E. Incorrect order of information
The left column is the
information on Holiday
Inn locations outside of
China. The right
column is a list of
locations in mainland
China. Chinese read
from left to right. Most
Chinese people travel
within the country, but
not outside the country.
The users want to see
domestic hotel
information first.
Suggestions:
Present domestic hotel
information on the left
and international hotels
on the right.
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F. Unclear information
structure
The first navigation link
translates to “book a
hotel room.” The
second translates to
“book a hotel room by
calling.” The
difference in these two
options is not clear.
Suggestion: The first
navigation link should
be “Book a hotel room
online.”
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4. Error Prevention Even better than good error messages is a careful design, which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.
A. Unlisted city options
The hotel locations are
limited to some big cities,
such as Beijing and Shenyang.
Users may not know if their
destination city has a Holiday
Inn. If the city they enter in
the input box does not have a
Holiday Inn, an error message
appears. [Also see item #6]
Suggestion:
List the cities where hotels are
available by using a dropdown
menu.
The user may enter a city that does
not have a Holiday Inn. The response
is an error message, which does not
give them relevant information. List
the cities that have hotels.
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5. Aesthetic and minimalist design Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue
competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
A. Same pictures on the
home page
On the home page, the exact
same pictures are displayed
just a few inches apart. These
two pictures convey the same
information. Users may see
this as a design mistake, which
could be interpreted as
unprofessional.
Suggestion:
Replace one of the duplicate
pictures with another graphic.
Two identical advertisements are
displayed on the home page.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
6. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a
solution.
A. Error message without
a solution
The error message is very
general. User will not know
which part of the information
they entered is incorrect. They
may try and correct
information that does not need
to be changed. In the example,
the error message is displayed
because the selected city does
not have a Holiday Inn. The
error message should read,
“ Could not find a hotel in
selected city, sorry for the
inconvenience.”
Suggestion:
Specify the error and/or
provide a solution.
The error message “Could not find
matching hotel, please change your options
and try again” appears when the selected
city does not have a Holiday Inn.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
B. Confusing error
message
The error message is displayed
as a code. Users will not
understand what this means
and will not be able to correct
their error.
Suggestion:
Avoid using codes in an error
message. Use plain language.
The error message is
displayed as a code. Users
will not understand the
meaning of the code.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
7. Help and documentation Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation.
Any such information should be easy to search for, and should focus on the user’s task. It should also list concrete steps to be
carried out, and the font should not be too large.
A. No online help
Online help is not
provided. Limited
assistance in the form
of FAQs is provided in
some places.
Suggestions:
Provide a link to
online help on each
page
Provide a phone
number to call for
help on each page
At the end of the page “Lowest Internet Rate
Guarantee,” a Frequently Asked Questions
link is provided.
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Findings and Conclusion Key Findings Below is a ranking of our findings based on our evaluation of the website. We have prioritized the findings into three categories: high
priority, medium priority, and low priority.
High Priority Issues
Localization
Several problems within the website deal with translation issues that have not been properly localized. For example, the
Chinese audience will not understand the translation of “king size bed.” There is no direct translation for this phrase; instead,
the website calls it a “super large bed” (from the advanced search option). Similarly, when trying to communicate the idea of
receiving information on the home page, it has been translated as “receive promoted sales (discount) activities.”
On some pages, when trying to select a hotel location, the user is asked to enter a state instead of a province (customer service
page). Another example of localized language problems is the sporadic use of either USD or CNY. This usage will potentially
cause conversion or confusion problems for the user (search and result page / lowest internet rate guarantee page).
On the home page, a U.S. phone number is given: “1-888-Holiday”. Chinese users will not understand how to numerically
enter “Holiday” on their telephones and they will not understand that they are making a call to the United States.
Error Messages
Some of the error messages do not specify what the error is. For example, one error message reads, “Could not find
matching hotel, please change your options and try again.” At this point, the user will not know what information he/she
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
needs to modify to conduct a successful search. Some of the other error messages are displayed as codes that the user will
not understand.
Layout Design
When the search results for hotels are displayed, the hotel’s information is displayed with two different background colors.
This may confuse the user into thinking that two hotels are being displayed.
Navigation
Upon visiting the Priority Club website, there is no clear option to return to the Holiday Inn website. This can potentially
confuse users and leave them thinking they have arrived at a completely different website that is not affiliated with the
Holiday Inn site. The branding and visual differences between the two sites can present users with a sense of confusion as to
where they are. Aside from the selecting the “back” button on the browser (which should not be assumed that users will do),
the only other option users have to return to the Holiday Inn site is at the bottom of the page, which cannot be seen on all
computer displays without scrolling down.
Visual Language
Upon entering information to search for a hotel, the location overview page displays a map with cities and provinces where
Holiday Inn hotels are located. Currently, the map displays gray icons that contain the province where a Holiday Inn is located.
The visual language presented by the map leads users to believe that they can click on one of these icons to view more
information about that specific Holiday Inn location.
Content
When a user enters information in the data collection form on the homepage, there is a box where the user is required to enter
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
a city name. Since Holiday Inns are not in all cities or even many cities in China, this will result in a lot of errors for users.
Currently, if a user enters in a city where a Holiday Inn is not present, it will tell the user that the search results were
unsuccessful, without stating that there is no hotel in that city and without giving the user options to see where hotels are
located.
Medium Priority Issues
Localization
On the homepage, Priority Club is written in English as well as in Chinese. Users who do not read English will not understand
the English or know what it means.
Branding
The homepage displays the Holiday Inn logo in English as well as in Chinese. The audience may be confused by this.
Navigation
There is inconsistency in the top navigation bar options on the Holiday Inn landing page and the subpages. When users click
on a navigation option on the home page, such as “Hotel Reservation,” the navigation on the new page is completely different
from the home page.
The home page has the following options in the top navigation menu:
• Hotel Reservation
• Phone Services for Hotel Reservation
• Conferences
• Destination Information
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
Subpages list the following options in the top navigation menu, which shares the same look as the home page:
• First Time Here
• Hotel Reservation
• Special Offers
• Phone Services for Hotel Reservation
• Destination Information
To illustrate the problem, suppose that a user wishes to view the contents of the “Conferences” button that was seen on the home
page. The user will not be able to click it from a subpage because it is not in the top navigation bar, where they expect it to be. It
can’t be assumed that the user will know to return to the home page to make this choice because the navigation menus look similar
but contain different information choices.
Low Priority Issues
Localization
When the user is required to put in confidential information during the hotel-booking process, an icon appears to indicate to
the user that the site is trustworthy. The words on the icon are written in English. Chinese users will not recognize this icon
means without translation or because it is not from a local trust organization.
Online Help
There are very few options for help on the website. The closest example of online help is the FAQ link at the bottom of the
“Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee” screen.
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Qianying Liu, Niven Sellars, Michael Somer
Layout Design
On the home page, the exact same pictures are used in close proximity. The two pictures convey the same information, so
users may be confused by this.
On the home page, the Chinese hotel locations are listed to the right of the international hotel locations, as opposed to being
listed first.
Navigation
The URL that the user enters in the web browser is not consistent with the URL that is displayed. The URL in the address bar
on the home page is http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/280/zh/home; yet what is visible on the page is the address
www.holidayinn.com.cn. (Located under the Holiday Inn logo.) This difference in the URLs could lead users to believe that
they might be at a scam site due to the mismatch of the web addresses.
Content The home page navigation options have a redundancy issue. Currently the first navigation choice reads “Book a Hotel Room”
and the second choice reads “Book a Hotel Room by Calling.” The distinction between these 2 links needs to be made clearer
(or merged into a single link).
Conclusion Our heuristic evaluation of the Holiday Inn China website revealed that there are a number of usability issues that our team can test
with participants. The high-priority issues will be part of the scenarios used in the usability testing. The project team looks forward to
testing the above findings with actual users of www.HolidayInn.com.cn.