feedback - Help with expert reviews

I am reviewing a client website. Usually I will find plenty wrong and will be able to highlight issues and recommend solutions. The problem with this particular project is that the website is actually very good and has nothing much wrong with it.

How should I structure* my report? What recommendations can I make? Have you come across a similar problem when you review websites?

_{*My reports are usually based on a 12 section evaluation adapted from Nielsen's usability heuristics.}

Answer

The overview is the hardest part to write because you need to have done all the work of the other parts to write it. In the overview you should be up front about saying that it is a good site, and be brief but specific about what makes it good - so that it does not come over as flannel. Being specific also makes a statement about the work you have done in assessing the site, right from the start.

• Be sure you have indeed been systematic in looking at the site. That's the key thing that differentiates what you've done from casual clicking around. You want to have checked out recovery with lost-password, delivery to addresses other than the cardholder address, duplicate submission of the same order, overseas orders, know the strengths and weaknesses of any built-in search (in as far as such features are relevant to this site).



• Easily overlooked - do some assessment of what happens if a service the site relies on is slow or down. Could easily happen as the site gains traction. You may need to talk with the site developers about this as you may not be able to assess this just from visiting the site. Does the site degrade gracefully and communicate clearly with the user?

You asked:

"How should I structure my report?"

If you have written terms of reference (write some for future contracts if you haven't) you can base the structure on that.

If not, start with your overview, even if you have to write it last, and then use chronology (roughly the order of development) as your organizing principle. Likely a review of the ease of placing an order will come earlier in your report than review of special-offer screens or overall site structure.

"What recommendations can I make?"

These will come out of the individual review sections. Formal user testing, and proceeding towards launch if there are no glaring problems are perfectly good recommendations. You don't need to clutter your report with unnecessary recommendations.

If you do find some problems, be sure to end your recommendations with some statement of something that is genuinely good about the site.