Cultural influence in web usability among Kenyan youth : a case study for Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technoloogy

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to provide the findings of the usability studies done by the researcher during the design of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology student information website. The researcher used a questionnaire to determine requirements, and proceeded to develop a prototype design, that was refined to create the final prototype design that was subjected to user testing. Think-aloud protocols were used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the final prototype design that asked participants to verbalize their thoughts as they completed a series of tasks. The results of the protocols indicated several key weaknesses with respect to search facility and screen design, leading to more revisions and the final prototype. Testing indicated that colour and graphics attract attention whereas font, chunking, consistency and leading with keywords increase usability. This is a case study and therefore not necessarily representative to the general population of student information website design efforts. This thesis describes a method of conducting usability testing with emphasis on think-aloud protocols. The techniques used here may be useful when approaching design and usability testing of sites that are of user-centred design.