UX DESIGN > Interface evaluation report: Virgin America
Interface evaluation report (2016)
Virgin America airlines website is designed for people to book a flight, check-in online, check flight status, manage their online account and elevate points. These are positive and negative aspects of design concept in this website, which are accessibility, usability goals, conceptual models, interaction types, and causes of user frustration.
Positive and negative aspects of accessibility
Web accessibility means that a product is usable and accessible by many different people. A key principle of web accessibility is designing a website that is suitable for people with disabilities, which also benefits other people such as the elderly (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.18). In the selected website, the positive aspects included the greeting on the welcome page, “Where would you like to go?”, the users with learning disabilities which affect memory and attention, whose can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with this website by following the step by step procedures. Other positive aspects are the links on the top are clearly visible, and there is an underline highlight when the curser hovers over the link. Also, the main large dropdown menus are in the middle of the page. All of the above aspects could help people who have visual difficulties. Although there are many positive aspects of accessibility, there are some negative aspects of accessibility, such as the text of links in the bottom are too small. Also, the icons of social media are grey, they are too similar to the light-grey background. This makes it relatively hard for people to click on the icons.
Web accessibility means that a product is usable and accessible by many different people. A key principle of web accessibility is designing a website that is suitable for people with disabilities, which also benefits other people such as the elderly (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.18). In the selected website, the positive aspects included the greeting on the welcome page, “Where would you like to go?”, the users with learning disabilities which affect memory and attention, whose can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with this website by following the step by step procedures. Other positive aspects are the links on the top are clearly visible, and there is an underline highlight when the curser hovers over the link. Also, the main large dropdown menus are in the middle of the page. All of the above aspects could help people who have visual difficulties. Although there are many positive aspects of accessibility, there are some negative aspects of accessibility, such as the text of links in the bottom are too small. Also, the icons of social media are grey, they are too similar to the light-grey background. This makes it relatively hard for people to click on the icons.
Usability goals are central aspect in website
The goals of usability are broken down into effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability and memorability. If websites reach usability goals successfully, this could satisfy user’s perspective and make them enjoyable (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.19). Virgin America does a great job in usability. Firstly, the effectiveness of the website, it could give a user a good impression when they access the website for the first time, because the loading time is fast, and all information is clear. The website supports users in carrying out their tasks with a clear guidance message, ‘Where would you like to go?’, which appears in the middle of the page. After that, there are three dropdown menus of ‘Guest’, ‘From’ and ‘To’. In the menu of the Guest column, users could simply choose all possible outcomes such as the number of adults, children, lap infants, or even pets. These selections could provide an easy and straightforward way to help users to reach their goals efficiently. Secondly, users could feel safe using this website, because they provide a physical address and phone number, and offer a clear introduction in the “About Us” page. Also, the link of “Press and Awards” shows the company awards and the links of other social media such as Facebook and Twitter could also help enhance users’ trust. Thirdly, the clear instructions help users learn during the initial learning phase, which also help users remember new concepts.
The goals of usability are broken down into effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability and memorability. If websites reach usability goals successfully, this could satisfy user’s perspective and make them enjoyable (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.19). Virgin America does a great job in usability. Firstly, the effectiveness of the website, it could give a user a good impression when they access the website for the first time, because the loading time is fast, and all information is clear. The website supports users in carrying out their tasks with a clear guidance message, ‘Where would you like to go?’, which appears in the middle of the page. After that, there are three dropdown menus of ‘Guest’, ‘From’ and ‘To’. In the menu of the Guest column, users could simply choose all possible outcomes such as the number of adults, children, lap infants, or even pets. These selections could provide an easy and straightforward way to help users to reach their goals efficiently. Secondly, users could feel safe using this website, because they provide a physical address and phone number, and offer a clear introduction in the “About Us” page. Also, the link of “Press and Awards” shows the company awards and the links of other social media such as Facebook and Twitter could also help enhance users’ trust. Thirdly, the clear instructions help users learn during the initial learning phase, which also help users remember new concepts.
Conceptual models and interface metaphors
Metaphors are considered to be a central component of a conceptual model. They provide a structure that is similar in some way to aspects of familiar entities that enable people to readily understand the underlying conceptual model (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.41). Users can have a mental concept of how to function on the website by their familiar experiences with other similar websites. This makes the website easy to learn and use. The designer of the selected website cleverly uses these conceptual models to design this website. The concept website framework is similar to popular global websites, for example, the websites of Apple and Microsoft. They all have a collective structure of logos and major links placed on the top of the page. Significant messages occupy nearly the full screen. After that, there are icons connecting to the different subpages. At the bottom of the page, there are some subordinate links in small text. There is also another interface metaphor in this website. The small icons of social media such as Facebook or Twitter allow users to click it intuitively if they wish to link to the relative social media, because it is a common logo known by most of people in the world, despite the logos being too small. The booking system is also a common design found in all airline websites. Most of the users have the knowledge to book their flights through a step by step procedure of choosing the destination, then selecting the departing and returning dates, then completing the information and processing the payment. All these concepts could cut down the learning curve and make the website easy to use, give the users a better user experience.
Metaphors are considered to be a central component of a conceptual model. They provide a structure that is similar in some way to aspects of familiar entities that enable people to readily understand the underlying conceptual model (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2015, p.41). Users can have a mental concept of how to function on the website by their familiar experiences with other similar websites. This makes the website easy to learn and use. The designer of the selected website cleverly uses these conceptual models to design this website. The concept website framework is similar to popular global websites, for example, the websites of Apple and Microsoft. They all have a collective structure of logos and major links placed on the top of the page. Significant messages occupy nearly the full screen. After that, there are icons connecting to the different subpages. At the bottom of the page, there are some subordinate links in small text. There is also another interface metaphor in this website. The small icons of social media such as Facebook or Twitter allow users to click it intuitively if they wish to link to the relative social media, because it is a common logo known by most of people in the world, despite the logos being too small. The booking system is also a common design found in all airline websites. Most of the users have the knowledge to book their flights through a step by step procedure of choosing the destination, then selecting the departing and returning dates, then completing the information and processing the payment. All these concepts could cut down the learning curve and make the website easy to use, give the users a better user experience.
Interaction types
Interaction types provide a way of thinking about how best to support the activities users will be doing when using a product or service. There are four main interaction types: instructing, conversing, manipulating and exploring. Interaction types like instructing, manipulating and exploring are cleverly adapted into this website. Instructing is good for repetitive tasks where users instruct the system and tell it what to do, for example, saving, deleting, and organizing files. One of the main benefits is that the interaction is quick and efficient. On this website, users can make their booking, check-in, manage details, check the fees, and their loyalty points online by themselves. Users can also experience good manipulation when they are making online bookings. Online bookings can be manipulated by moving, selecting, opening and closing virtual objects such as icons and menus. Users can immediately see their actions are furthering their goals and gain confidence and feel in control. Besides this, web designers also adapted the exploration in their websites. Users can explore different parts in a cabin by using a 360-degree view on board with Google Street View where they navigate using a mouse. It is a pity that the conversing functions are not available present on this website. The link ‘contact us’ is not placed in an obvious place and the chat button is not useable. The user may find it difficult to immediately interact with this company.
Interaction types provide a way of thinking about how best to support the activities users will be doing when using a product or service. There are four main interaction types: instructing, conversing, manipulating and exploring. Interaction types like instructing, manipulating and exploring are cleverly adapted into this website. Instructing is good for repetitive tasks where users instruct the system and tell it what to do, for example, saving, deleting, and organizing files. One of the main benefits is that the interaction is quick and efficient. On this website, users can make their booking, check-in, manage details, check the fees, and their loyalty points online by themselves. Users can also experience good manipulation when they are making online bookings. Online bookings can be manipulated by moving, selecting, opening and closing virtual objects such as icons and menus. Users can immediately see their actions are furthering their goals and gain confidence and feel in control. Besides this, web designers also adapted the exploration in their websites. Users can explore different parts in a cabin by using a 360-degree view on board with Google Street View where they navigate using a mouse. It is a pity that the conversing functions are not available present on this website. The link ‘contact us’ is not placed in an obvious place and the chat button is not useable. The user may find it difficult to immediately interact with this company.
Causes of user frustration
According to the online analysis and observation, there are many complaints and issues occurring everyday from internet users. Therefore, try to decrease user frustration is one of the fundamental cognitions that web designers need to concern. Frustration occurs when an application does not work properly such as error messages. A display of error message may be caused due to hardware or software failure, or might be caused by the actions of users by wrong commands. Other reasons like user’s expectation are not met such as time delay, which may influence the user’s expectation because they generally prefer a shorter response time. Another reason is that websites do not provide sufficient information to enable the user to know what to do. Lastly, time spending by users in operating the system is also a reason of frustration, for example, a system requires users to carry out too many steps to perform a task, or users need to start all over again when they make a mistake. Overall, this website successfully prevents user frustration in some points as there is no time delay when user navigates the website, the common information that users normally need to search such as fees and flight status is sufficient, the interface is clear, users can change the details immediately when they make a mistake in the booking system. However, there are still some causes of user frustration, such as receiving error messages when opening some subordinate links and the online chat is not available.
According to the online analysis and observation, there are many complaints and issues occurring everyday from internet users. Therefore, try to decrease user frustration is one of the fundamental cognitions that web designers need to concern. Frustration occurs when an application does not work properly such as error messages. A display of error message may be caused due to hardware or software failure, or might be caused by the actions of users by wrong commands. Other reasons like user’s expectation are not met such as time delay, which may influence the user’s expectation because they generally prefer a shorter response time. Another reason is that websites do not provide sufficient information to enable the user to know what to do. Lastly, time spending by users in operating the system is also a reason of frustration, for example, a system requires users to carry out too many steps to perform a task, or users need to start all over again when they make a mistake. Overall, this website successfully prevents user frustration in some points as there is no time delay when user navigates the website, the common information that users normally need to search such as fees and flight status is sufficient, the interface is clear, users can change the details immediately when they make a mistake in the booking system. However, there are still some causes of user frustration, such as receiving error messages when opening some subordinate links and the online chat is not available.
In conclusion, this website is overall well-constructed as it uses the concepts of accessibility, usability goals, conceptual models and interaction types. In the concept of accessibility, the website is suitable to many different people. By using usability goals the website can provide an effective, efficient and safe environment to users. Conceptual models are successful as they are easy to learn and provide the user a familiar experience to other similar websites. Interaction types like instructing, manipulating and exploring are cleverly adapted into this website. On the other hand, the website could be improved in accessibility by change the size of text and icons, and if they could reduce the causes of user frustration to enhance user’s expectation.
References:
Apple Inc 2016, Apple, viewed 28 July 2016, https://www.apple.com
Microsoft Corp 2016, Microsoft-Official Home, viewed 28 July 2016, https://www.microsoft.com
Preece, J, Rogers, Y & Sharp, H 2015, Interaction Design, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
Virgin America 2016, Book a Flight, viewed 28 July 2016, https://www.virginamerica.com