The usability test of Yushan National Park's online entry application system found some areas for improvement. Half of participants were confused by the team leader/member scenario in the application. Minor issues like unclear labels and missing country options also caused confusion. To address this, improvements are needed to labeling, reordering content, and providing clearer instructions. While the application process was mostly easy, participants were unclear about the permit draw process and how it works. Adding this information during and after application could help. Overall impressions of the site lowered slightly after use, suggesting more work is needed for optimal usability.

1. Usability Test Results For
Yushan National Park
Ecological Protected Area
Edward Chang ‧ Melinda Yang ‧ Yu Hou
12/5/2012

2. Agenda
‧
Website Background
‧
Persona and Test Subjects
‧
Usability Tasks
‧
Results of Findings
and Improvements
‧
Overall Impression

3. Background
Yushan National Park has
launched the online entry
application system to replace
the original paper application,
but some parts of the
interface cause usage
complexity
The testing goals include how
easily new users navigate the site
and whether they can collect
specific information
Yushan National Park Entry Team
is seeking improvements to
provide a positive user experience
and increase usage frequency
http://mountain.ysnp.gov.tw/english/index.aspx

4. Primary user: Young adventure
The young adventurer has a regular exercise
habit; he/she exercises more than once a
week and goes hiking or camping once a
year. Most of them are still college students
or college-educated. Their personal income
is less than $20,000 a year. The young
adventurer has a moderate or advanced
degree of web saviness and is budgetconscious. When they go hiking or camping,
they seek accessible information initiatively
instead of spending money on a travel
agency.
These advocates include students,
backpackers, family members and friends.
The adventurer will be looking for a wealth of
information and clear applied methods on
related websites, like Yushan National Park
Ecological Protected Area Online Park Entry
Application.

6. Test subjects
5 men, 1 woman
6 subjects were ages of 19 to 25
5 with personal income under $10,000
5 exercise at least once a week
5 went camping or mountain climbing in the past
12 months
5 saw outdoor recreation opportunities as
important

7. Usability Tasks
Task1. Reactions to the home page
o Getting the message across effectively
Task2. Plan a visit
o Checking trail status, finding route map and lodging information
Task3. Preparation
o Realizing what document to get before entry
Task4. Apply for entry
o Completing the application process
Task5. Obtain the permit
o Inputting required information and printing out

8. View Recordings of Sessions
Arian audio: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmM290dkNvNS1JU1E
Arian video: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmQUNKOWRxOVJrTzg
Grace audio: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmU0tkT3hndWxvV3M
Grace video: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmVVdFN2ItYVBQUXM
Jack audio: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmYTV1Nzk0RVhsaVE
James audio: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmYWdHQ213dkJxZjA
Kevin audio: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmcDgxd2EtaVZlckU
VT video: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-We5xN7jURmeWNZWU1OUW9YcXM

9. Home page

10. Home page Impression
50% identified the site is mainly
for National park entry application
30% identified it is for
environmental protection
First they noticed the board then
the primary navigation
★ Average impression is 4 stars

11. Like and Dislike
Like
"Visual and clear
navigation." - James
"Eye-catching color,
beautiful design with
adorable pheasant."
-Vinh-Thuy
Dislike

100% frustrated to use limited
mobility drop-down menu

50% preferred real national
park background pictures

Confused about some labeling
like" Draw Results" and " How
to use the system" "No idea
about what the system is for. It
could be whole website usage
problem and resolution." -Jack

12. Improvements
Site identity and mission:
o Making the site ID
more visible by
changing the original
text color
o Adding clear tagline
below the Site ID

13. Improvements
o Clear entry points for new users by giving a more
self-explanatory name, “First time? Go for permit
to entry,” instead of “ Why do
o Short description of Draw operation on the board

14. Plan a Visit

15. Expectation of Current Status of Trail
 100% participants has no problem with what
to expect on current status of trail. Some of
them provided additional suggestions.
 “I expect to see weather condition and warning.”
-----Kevin
 “Trail list. If the trail open or not”
----- Jack
 “Maybe current event.”
-----Grace

16. Find the Route Map
 85% participants
incorrectly clicked
the left map first
 1 participant
incorrectly clicked
“Cabin and
Campground
Availability”

17. Improvement
 Make the link
more visible
 Reconfigure the
content lay out

18. Find Locations to Stay
 60% participants:
camps and cabins
 30% participants:
visitor centers

19. Improvement
 Redesign the icons for visitor center
 Reorder the icon sequence:
Peak
Visitor Center/Service Center
Trail Head
Cabin
Camp
Original

20. Cabin Capacity
 2 participants successfully
clicked
“The Capacity of
Campground”
 3 participants tried to
click camp icons on the map
 1 participants clicked
“Cabin and Campground
Availability”

21. Improvement
 Make camp and cabin icon
on the map link to
corresponding page
 Change the label “Camp
and Cabin Availability” to
“Camp and Cabin
Reserved Status”
 Change the label “The
Capacity of Campground”
to “Lodging Information”

22. What do the numbers mean?
 1 out of 6 participants
correctly guessed it’s
about applied
applicants
 3 participants guessed
it’s about available
beds or tents
 1 participants guessed
it’s about how many
people will show up
 1 participant had no
idea

23. Improvement
 Move the description about
the number to the top
 Make the number on the
calendar stand for the
number of campground
availability, as most
participants have expected

24. Get an Entry Permit
2 out of 6 participants
found out they need
permit before entering
the park
1 participant
misunderstood the
question
2 out of 6 participants
went to FAQ and took a
while to find out
1 participant didn’t find
out until being offered
with a hint

25. Improvement
 Set a specific floating
navigation bar on the
website for applying for
a permit
 Enlarge and use
another font of “Online
Park Entry Application”

26. Apply for
Entry

27. Apply for Entry
 50% participants
clicked the correct
path "Online
Application“
 50% participants
identified the
wrong link under
"Permit
Application
Methods.“

28. Improvement
 Labeling of "Online
Application" should
be more visible
 Description in
"Permit Application
Methods" should be
more obvious
 Distinct with
National Police
Agency's Online
Application

29. Application Process
 50% users got confused with
Team Leader and Team
Member scenario, they chose
Team Member and failed to
enter the next process
 None of the participants have
major problem during the
entire application process
 Minor issues confused the
participants

30. Minors Improvement
“I think the do not collect animals and plants should
be bold because it emphasize it’s a protected area.”
-Vinh-Thuy

31. Minors Improvement
 Selection of Nationality
should separate Europe
and America
“I’m entering from USA,
there supposed to be a
USA.” -James
 “I got confused at IP
labeling. I guessed it will
show my IP, but it’s not.”
-Jack
 All participants ignored
the provided example to
input country code in cell
phone

32. Minors Improvement
 “I don’t know what by
bed first mean?”
-Jack
 Description of
camping condition
should change to
camping preference
Ex: prefer bed first or
will bring personal
tent

33. Minors Improvement
 “Aw… I have no
idea what that
Asian language
means.” -Arian
 Alert message
boxes in Chinese
should interpret
into English

34. Ease of Performing the Application Process
 30% in between, 70%
easy
 One participant
disliked the multiple
language, another
liked it
“The other language
distracted me.”
“I like the Chinese
character, they should
add the Chinese name
on homepage.”

35. Guess the Process after Application
 From the overall walk
through, none of the
participants recalled or
guessed right on “Draw”
 One participant found
the draw under “Permit
Application Method.”
Other searched through
pages like: FAQ,
Application Inquiry

36. Improvement
 Provide the Draw
information at the
final page of
application process
 The information
should be more visible
on the site. Ex: Home
page, Permit
Application Method
 People tend to think
once you reserved, you
get the permit.
“In USA, you reserved,
you get to go.” -Kevin

37. Print the Permit
 None of the
participants have
problem on finding
where to print out the
permit
 100% expected to see
the official permit
“It looks offcial.”
-Grace
“It got a seal!”
-Vinh-Thuy

38. Overall Impressions
30% the same
70% participants dropped
0.5 - 1 star
★ Overall 3.6 stars
65% participants think the
website is more serious than
the first impression