OVERVIEW

In this report I conducted a usability analysis of the current University of Idaho homepage and global header to provide design recommendations for an upcoming redesign by the Web Team. Usability issues were identified using several methods. Firstly, an online survey was utilized to gain information from clients about their expected outcomes of a redesign, and the potential audiences. Next, established usability guidelines specific to the design of university websites were reviewed.

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Afterwards, a heuristic markup based was conducted on the current homepage and header. Additionally, a competitive analysis on the homepages and headers of three prominent universities was conducted. A heatmap listing the various header elements in each institution’s web page was developed in order to understand trends in header element naming and order. Thereafter, user activity within the homepage and header was examined using Google analytics. Several usability issues in terms of the information architecture within the global header, and the use of image carousels to present media content were found.