1.
a) Briefly explain why even expert users can get 'lost in hyperspace'.
[5 marks]
b) b) A recent survey of over 400 e-commerce sites found that just fewer than 50% provided a site map. In another usability study, it has been found that users make an unintended or 'incorrect' selection for every three items chosen from a site map. In other words, there is a one in three chance that the site map will not take them where they want to go. Briefly comment on the implications that these results carry for the design of site maps. Identify an alternative to a site map as a means of supporting user navigation of large web sites.
[10 marks]
c) c) You have been asked by an Internet bank to work on two different site maps. The first is intended to support the banks customers to navigate the facilities that are provided on the public site. The second is intended to support bank employees to navigate through areas of the Bank's Intranet. Write a brief technical report describing the important differences that exist between these two different maps. Clearly identify any differences that you would make in the design of these maps.
[12 marks]
2.
a) Briefly describe how card--sorting techniques can be used to support requirements elicitation for the design of web-based information systems.
[4 marks]
b) Why is it hard to use these techniques to support the design of sites that focus more on subjective satisfaction and entertainment than on task-based interaction?
[6 marks]
c) Your manager has asked you to show that a web site is "accessible to the broadest cross-section of users possible". Write a brief technical report describing how you would go about satisfying this demand.[15 marks]
3. Question on second half of the course.
[Total 25 marks]
4. Question on second half of the course.
[Total 25 marks]
[end]