Cognitive Walkthrough Activity
prepared by Tammy VanDeGrift <tammy@cs.washington.edu>
A cognitive walkthrough can help evaluate how easy an interface is to learn. These walkthroughs are performed by the interface designers or programmers who take on the role of a typical user. Usually, the evaluator would describe a task, a persona (assumptions about a typical user), the explicit sequence of actions to perform the task, and the system itself. For this activity, these are given. It is your job to evaluate each action according to the following criteria:
1. Match to intent
Will the users be trying to produce whatever effect the action has?
Does the required action match users’ intentions?
Do users have the required knowledge?
2. Visibility
Will users see the control for the action?
3. Labeling
Once users find the control, will they recognize if it produces the desired effect?
4. Indication of Progress
After action is taken, will users understand the feedback?
Will users be confident that they can go on to the next action?
Task
John is interested in visiting Saint Peter, MN, a place he has not visited before. He is interested in finding a place to stay during his visit and learning about local recreational activities. While searching on the words Saint Peter Minnesota, he finds the website http://tourism.st-peter.mn.us/. He looks for local accommodations, finds the Americinn Hotel, looks for its street on a city map, and looks for local recreational options.
Persona
John is recently retired and using his free time to visit small towns in the country. He uses a web browser regularly and is comfortable using search engines and navigating through pages. He gets frustrated when it takes him time to figure things out that are new to him. When he finds a website that he cannot understand quickly, he searches for a different one that might have the same information.
System
The system is the website for St. Peter tourism. This website has information about St. Peter, including local events, schools, churches, accommodations, recreational facilities, local history, and maps.
For each of the following actions, make comments in the table about the four criteria listed above. Go to http://tourism.st-peter.mn.us/ in your web browser.
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Actions |
Match to Intent |
Visibility |
Labeling |
Indication of Progress |
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1. Click on arrow to the right of Visit Here! |
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2. Click on Lodging |
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3. If there are results, read through the list. You decide to stay at Americinn and note its address. |
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4. Click on arrow to the right of Visit Here! |
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5. Click on Maps and Directions |
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6. Click on top portion of St. Peter map |
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7. You find that Minnesota Ave. is at O7, so you click close window. |
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8. Click on middle portion of St. Peter map |
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9. You find N. Minnesota Ave and click close window. |
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10. Click on arrow to the right of Visit Here! |
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11. Click on Things to Do |
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12. Click on Recreation |
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13. You read the options and return to home page by clicking on icon in top-left corner of page. |
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Identify problem spots and describe the severity of the problems encountered below.
Activity based on the following material: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/classes/cs3302/documents/cog.walk.html