Heuristic Analysis of DSpace - Digital Online Library application built by Hewlett Packard under Open Software License.

1. Detailed Analysis DSpace Devesh Jagatram

3. Is this going to search under ‘this space’ or ‘all of DSpace’? It is good to have multiple links for same page, but not always. Navigation and Structure How are these two different?

4. Is this the only link for authorized users? Then why do I need to sign on for other two links? Or can unauthorized users also sign on? Is this the home page? Why is there a separate Home page link available? Navigation and Structure

5. Email updates about what? Links should give clear Scent of Information. They should tell the user where they will lead to. Navigation and Structure

6. Ambiguity in links should be avoided. Navigation and Structure Are these same? Are these same? Are these same?

7. How do I sign on? There is no link to ‘sign on’ anywhere on this page. Research shows users expect a login window here, in case there is any login requisite. Navigation and Structure

8. Navigation and Structure I can subscribe for email updates for some collection specifically. Can I do so for a complete community or sub-community also? Can there be some difference in look & feel of community pages and collection pages?

9. I had clicked on ‘Receive email updates’. But the page tells me I am not subscribed to any collections and I need to click elsewhere to receive email updates. Navigation and Structure

10. Navigation and Structure This user is administrator here. But the links on right are only Admin links for this page. There is no global admin link anywhere on main page or main navigation bar?

11. Logging In leads to this page. Can we say this page is Member’s page / My Account Page. Can we also include ‘View my profile / Edit my profile link on this page itself’ ? Can we display my profile on this page by default? Navigation and Structure

12. Avoid Cross-references and disparity in link names at different places. Navigation and Structure Are these links same? Avoid such ambiguities.

13. It is a good practice to give Help in a new window as it enables the user to keep working while going through help. Navigation and Structure

14. All these links open another Website, on the same window. Should either warn user before this or open in separate window. Navigation and Structure

15. There is a sub-community and a collection with same name under different communities. Further there is no indication which community each collection belongs to. Navigation and Structure

16. Navigation and Structure Is this step a part of the submit process? It is not included in the list of things to be done for a submit process.

17. In previous screen, there were 2 tabs of Describe. Here I have 3. Where did the extra tab come from? Avoid such inconsistencies. Navigation and Structure

18. Navigation and Structure Can we put the two links under ‘My DSpace’ itself like this one? Makes it more logical and clean.

19. How is this link different from general page link? Why putting it separately in administrator module? Navigation and Structure

21. Jargons should not be used. Users cannot interpret them. Content What are communities and collections? What are communities and collections? What are communities and collections? What are ‘communities’ and ‘collections’?

22. What are ‘Item hits’? Use natural spoken language. Content What are ‘Item hits’ and ‘collection hits’? Use natural spoken language.

23. Can we have more search options like ‘Exact Match’ / ‘Starting with’ / ‘Anywhere in the title’ ? Content

24. So much of text! Provide some breathing space. Content

25. What submissions? Can we give some introduction or any idea of where are they submitted / by whom / when? Content

26. Page Title Logo Search/Browse Subscribe Introduction Copyright Since there are only these elements on this page, which is there on other pages also, can we have by default some listing of content in this category? Content

27. Can we have a some page for subscribing globally and a link to it on this page? Or can we have a globally subscribing option on this page? Content

28. Why are there 3 tabs of Describe? The tabs should be more specific giving user exact idea of what kind of action they are required to perform here. No way to go to previous page. Was it really not part of the submission process? Content

29. No one likes to read so much of text. Can we minimize it? Content

30. Can this be simplified? Content

31. How much of these are actually needed? Can we simplify this information? Content

32. Content What are these communities and collections?

33. This page just has 3 links. Can we by default display user’s submissions and subscriptions on this page? That saves extra clicks. Content

35. Poor affordance for a button. Care should be given on the perceived affordance of elements present on a page. Interaction

36. What is this – site architecture? Categories catalogue? Can we have it expandable instead of this long list? Interaction

37. Am I searching all of DSpace here? Interaction Am I on ‘page 1 of 1’ or ‘Result 1 of 2’? Avoid such ambiguities.

38. What is the order in which results are listed? Can I change this sort order? Interaction

39. Will clicking on update change my password to blank? Interaction

40. Why is there an extra page? Why cannot such confirmation be provided by still taking the user to DSpace Home? Interaction

41. These are also 2 pages, why are they under one tab? Interaction

42. Our users don’t need options like checksum. This only confuses them. Avoid un-required features. Interaction

43. This user was not authorized Administrator! How did he get Admin Tools? Interaction

44. What are these? Doesn’t look like buttons. And ‘DELETE’ button – definitely not! Take care of the kind of icons used, users might not perceive it that way. Interaction

45. There is no back or cancel button for this task. Once the task is started there is no way out! Interaction

46. Why extra window with list, when it can be included in the same window with simple check boxes? Interaction

47. There is no cue of any update been made. Provide users with appropriate cues whenever possible. Interaction

48. I have a few users on this. Where are they? Why is the list empty? Interaction

49. Is this same as cancel creating an EPerson? Which EPerson will it delete when I have not even created any? Interaction

50. What if the year does not fall in the given options? Can we have manual input for year and keeping month optional? This reduces the two options into one. Interaction

51. There is no indication of any kind when I press a specific letter to browse. What letter have I pressed and how has it changed the results? Even when I press some letter not present in results, the results are still the same. Interaction

52. There is no option to cancel the log-in task, what if I don’t want any membership and continue using non-member services. There is no back button to the page that I was on before this! Interaction Can these be put together?

54. Is this home page for this repository or DSpace homepage? The Homepage should be very clearly defined. There should be no confusion about it. Branding issues should be handled separately. Presentation Why cannot these 2 alternatives serve as homepage then?

55. Presentation We have something like page number here. Which is not present everywhere. Avoid such inconsistencies.

56. These tables keep floating in center of browser regardless of screen resolution, which provides inconsistency in display. Can we have a strict start point to ensure they look similar in all resolutions? Presentation

57. Presentation Can these be clubbed and presented in a better way?

58. Are these column-sizes adjustable? Generally Title of anything is bigger than its authors’ names. Presentation

59. Presentation There was a title everywhere! This page has no title!! What is this? Advanced search or normal search?

60. Can we reduce this number of alignment points and make the page more organized? Presentation

61. Good sense of space! But can this be represented in a better form? Presentation

62. Can this be presented in a different manner with clear cut graphical demarcations? Page Title Search/Browse Window Page Introduction Sub-communities Sub-community introduction Copyright Text Presentation

63. Standard email addresses are longer in size than what can accommodate in this box’s view at a time. Can we make the box longer to make it more obvious? Presentation

64. Some categories (like this one) might not have any content stored under it. But a search box indicates that there are items which are not displayed by default, like elsewhere. Can we have remove this search box when no content is present or can we indicate explicitly that there is no content stored under this category at present? Presentation

65. This email id or username is not completely visible. Can we make some provision for it to be fully visible? Presentation

66. Centre align sometimes make things look ugly, and not beautiful. Can we look at the alignment of these elements? Presentation

67. All the buttons are of different size. Can some standard be put on them? Presentation

68. This is a submission rejected by some administrator. Unfinished submission is not emphasizing on this. Unclear message. Presentation