Rachel Nabors recently wrote an article for UX Booth on Better User Orientation through Navigation. Some simple test ideas that can be pulled from the article include:

• Can you navigate without having to mouseover icons to figure out what's what? Is it easy to find the link to the home page (or other core areas of your site)?


• Is there a way to distinguish between internal and external links?


• Can you easily open links in the same tab and a new tab? If you open it in the same tab and click back, do you actually go back to where you were?


• Can a user easily tell where they are within the site or application?


• Are back and forward buttons included in any multipart forms?


• Are dropdowns and flyouts available for a short period of time after you move off of them, but not too long?


• Is there sufficient live area around links?


• Are basic elements for finding information (like search or sitemaps) available if a user can't readily find what they need?

If you break that list down, you'll find some interesting dynamics at play:

• Some tests deal with user expectation. For example, you need search and sitemaps because everyone has search and sitemaps. Users expect those basic elements. They also don't expect to get transferred suddenly to a different site when they click a link.


• Some tests deal with confidence in navigation. For example, when a website uses javascript to open a link and I can't open it in a new tab (as the author points out in the article), I get angry. If I hit back and get redirected to somewhere other than where "back" is, I get angry. And if I'm filling out a form of some sort (especially credit card information), I'm almost never going to use my browser's back button. You'll need to provide me one.


• Some tests deal with how forgiving you've made your site. The examples in the article of someone navigating with shaky hands, someone who doesn't know what your icons mean, and someone who may not know where they are in your site so they need some visual clues all ring true. We've all been there. Making sure people can easily figure out where they are, what they need to do next, and then making it easy to actually do those things, is what it's all about.

Another post worth looking at by Rachel Nabors is her post on The Three Minute Accessibility Test.

Discover Card has a paperless sweepstakes going on right now. Fairly simple - get your statements online, get entered to win $5k-$15. At the bottom of the rules, I found this little gem:

ONLINE NOTICE:
ANY ATTEMPT BY AN INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. Not responsible for faulty, incorrect or mistranscribed phone/e-mail transmissions, incorrect announcements of any kind, technical hardware or software failures of any kind including any injury or damage to any person's computer related to or resulting from participating in or experiencing any materials in connection with the promotion, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmission that may limit a user's ability to participate in the promotion. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel or modify the promotion if fraud, misconduct or technical failures destroy the integrity of the program; or if a computer virus, bug, or other technical problem corrupts the administration or security of the program as determined by Sponsor/judging agency/administrator, in their sole discretion. In the event of termination, a notice will be posted online and the drawing will be conducted from among all eligible entries received prior to termination. Any damage made to the Web Site will be the responsibility of the authorized e-mail account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. Proof of submitting entries will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by Sponsor. Any entries which are suspected of being fraudulent (including those using robotic, automatic, programmed or similar methods of participation) will be disqualified, based on determinations made solely by Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to prohibit the participation of an individual if fraud or tampering is suspected or if the account holder fails to comply with any requirement of participation as stated herein or with any provision in these Official Rules.

I understand the need for such statements. I'm not that good at hacking, but I suspect if I gave it an honest effort I could get my name or account number entered more than once. I understand that Discover has to protect itself, and I'm cool with that.

(Get it? Honest effort? ha...)

Now, perhaps it's just because I test software for a living, but this line in particular jumped out at me:

Any damage made to the Web Site will be the responsibility of the authorized e-mail account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry.

I can think of bugs that would cause damage to the site. If my email exposes one of those bugs I'm liable? That seems awfully silly.