Using Basic Usability Tests to improve design of NESDIS websites, including NOAA’s CoastWatch Data Portal

Basic usability tests often evaluate the effectiveness of a design repeated throughout a product’s development, from early stages through its release. The UserZoom platform allows for remote, unmoderated testing, which lets participants complete tasks at their own pace and location -- an advantage for both researchers and participants.

This presentation describes a recent opportunity by NOAA’s CoastWatch Team, an early adopter of the UserZoom platform in NESDIS, to conduct the first basic usability test on the CoastWatch Data Portal. Users completed pre-designed tasks to determine the usability of the data portal application and navigation. The team was able to collect valuable and actionable feedback regarding the data portal, which will be assessed to make improvement for users in future versions of the portal.

Participants were asked to complete three tasks: (1) Set the date, (2) Remove all layers and find a particular data set to display, and (3) Define a region to download data. The analysis presented reflects participant success, time to complete the study, the participant’s confidence or frustration, and additional comments captured during the study. Additional basic usability tests completed in NESDIS will also be discussed during this session.