Evaluation - continued ......

Usability

Another very important aspect of any system is how usable it is. In other words, how easily the people testing the system found it to use the functionality offered effectively.

User friendliness
The focus group, while evaluating the system and providing feedback, repeatedly mentioned that the system was “easier to use” than several of the alternative system and that it offered simple methods for performing routine tasks.

An important point to note is that each member of the focus group were able to use the system fully without any need for help, guidance or questions related to performance of any task within the system. I think that this shows the system is easy to use and intuitive.

Reading articles
The most important aspect of any Usenet reader is it’s ability to read articles and display them to the user in a simple and straightforward manner. As with most other sections of the system when displaying articles the layout and feel of the display reflects the style sheet that the user is currently using to browse the system. With the default style sheet provided in use — a very simple example of how the system looks without any special formatting — the focus group found that the system provides a much easier way to read articles than using such text only alternatives like slrn or tin. This feedback is very important as it demonstrates ease of use within the system — one of the most important aspects of any system, and also one of the hardest for a system to obtain.

Composing articles
The nature of the NNTP protocol and the way in which Usenet handles articles posted, requires that all Usenet articles must be in plain text such that there is no special formatting or type setting. This restriction of the protocol in use meant that the most sensible choice for user article composition was a plain HTML text input area as it offers a very simple and straightforward method for the user to enter their article text. This method for article input was seen by most members of the focus group as a good method, and most found it preferable to using a remote shell in order to access the Usenet system.

There were however, several comments made by a member of the focus group which suggests that a more “feature filled” method for composition would be preferable. Unfortunately such an improved composition method would be pointless as most of the extra features that it may offer would not be usable within a plain text article.

Browsing news groups
When the user wishes to find an article that they wish to read then they must browse the available news groups until the article is located. There are various methods for making article location easier for the user to achieve, some of which have been implemented within the system, and some which have not. At present the system offers the ability to view the articles within a news group in a threaded manner, to help the user follow a conversation, and all unread articles are printed in a bold font to ensure that the user can easily identify them.

Some suggestions, made by the focus group, to help a user when browsing the news groups have been made. I shall briefly comment on each of the suggestions justifying why each did not get implemented as part of the system.

CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE........