Australian Web sites blasted in usability stakes

Headed by Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman group recently staged a conference in Sydney. Disappointed in the bulk of Australia's Internet efforts, the group was quick to point out popular Web sites as examples of bad Web usability.

Topping the list of sites with poor Web usability, according to the company, was the Australian Government Services Web site , which was reported as a site that lacks integration, has hidden critical information, poor search, inconsistent look and feel, and logo problems, just to name a few.

Next on Nielsen's hitlist was the redesign of the Coles Web site. According to the group, Coles fixed only part of its previous site problems while creating even more issues in Web usability. The think tank were quick to point out that this was a prime example of a company making quick - rather than thoughtful - changes to its site, and suggested this lack of strategic planning will have future repercussions for Coles.

The NRMA (National Roads and Motorists' Association) scored a mixed result, rated as being simple and clean. However, finding information about roadside assistance, for which NRMA is most noted, is not easy to find and colour contrast was found to be problematic for seniors and other visitors with low vision, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen Norman claimed it was being harsh but fair when assessing the award-winning Sydney Opera House Web site saying that "it has a few usability problems that make the site visit less than optimal".

The only site to receive good marks was the joint-venture between Microsoft and Australian Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), the Ninemsn Web site, although it finished a distant second compared to its parent site, MSN.

What do you think of Web usability in Australia? Do you think that we are behind the rest of the world when it comes to this fundamental element of Web development? E-mail us at ZDNet Australia and tell us what you think.

• Related stories

• Alerts

Add your opinion

His own photos let us know wha ...Anonymous -- 01/07/02

His own photos let us know what to think of Jakob Neilsen. http://www.useit.com/jakob/photos/

Oops - oh no - Jakob's not W3C WAI compliant
http://bobby.cast.org/bobby/bobbyServlet?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.useit.com%2Fjakob%2Fphotos%2F&output=Submit&gl=wcag1-aaa

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Australia is no worse than the ...Anonymous -- 01/07/02

Australia is no worse than the rest of the world, and better than a lot. Have you ever tried to extract information from some of the US government agency's websites?

Many of our gevernment agencies, in particular, have enormous quantities of diverse functions and disparate agencies. They've given first prority to making the information available, and are now in iterations of making it more accessible. The fact that it is happening concurrently with massive reorganisations and "business process re-engineering" mandated by changing political considerations doesn't make it any easier.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

`Web usability guru Jakob Niel ...Anonymous -- 01/07/02

`Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen' his title and photographs (in bordeux coloured shirt) say it all - yet another yank guru tripping across the Pacific to sell his products.

Sure we should consider the needs of the vision impaired and others when designing web sites, but we don't need lectures from self styled `experts' using serious issues like this to create media space like this article to create a market for their overly expensive software.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

But Usability IS Good. Some of ...Anonymous -- 01/07/02

But Usability IS Good.

Some of those comments were quite fierce back there!

Jakob may look like a bit of a dork, but most people after all do find usability boring.

However he is not actually selling expensive software(though the amount of info on his site that you now need to pay for has escalated)! He has been involved in more than just web usability as well.

But just to pick up on one of his old points, which is not so much his, but just a result of research:

Something like 80% of users expect the search box to be in the top right corner of a web page.

Not for example right down the bottom right like it is here!

But anyhow, usability is a good thing.

I'll stop raving.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Jakob Neilsen is obviously sur ...Anonymous -- 02/07/02

Jakob Neilsen is obviously surfing a different Web to the rest of us.

I spend a considerable amount of time on the Web and have used both the Australian Goverment Services site and the Sydney Opera house site on a number of occasions and have found both to be extremely easy to navigate while providing large amounts of usfull information in an orderly and logical way.

Actually my experience of Goverment sites is that they are indeed some of the best around.

While the the Sydney Opera House is also a beautiful looking site as well as having high usability.

AS FOR NINEMSN, well that's a different story not only are there servers down on a regular basis, but they cram far to much into there home page with fonts that are to small and half there information hidden along some completely illogical line of links. Their search engine is one of the worst around for relevant results and all there pages are S O S L O W to load in.

But I guess most people love them because you can eventually find most things and they are the only ones with a budget that allows them to extensively advertise in other forms of media. So a great majority of people probably don't realsie there are superior alternatives. Maybe Jakob should take a look at some and find out what real usability is.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

??? Anonymous -- 15/04/09 (in reply to #120010978)

..."Maybe Jakob should take a look at some and find out what real usability is."

Sounds to me like a quite arrogant and/or ignorant comment. I'm not preaching for Jakob, but he definitely has done (and still doing) his part when it comes to Usability.

If you don't think there is room for more Usability in Australia AND elsewhere, it's really a pity.

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

AU awareness low/importance hi ...Tania Lang -- 02/07/02

AU awareness low/importance high

Having just attended Nielsen Norman group's User Experience Conference in Sydney, the general consensus from attendees was that the speakers - including Jakob Nielsen - were pitching to the already converted. Most attendees already had a high awareness of usability and user experience (UXP) and wanted to hear about latest research and best practice.

Having said that, I reviewed the attendee list and there was a notable lack of attendees from large corporations (with the exception of banks and telcos) and web development companies. Government agencies were surprisingly well represented I thought.

This goes to show that broadly speaking, there appears to be a generally low understanding of the importance of UXP. Many owners/managers (not designers or developers) of web development companies I have spoken with over the last few months in Australia admit to having little understanding of UXP and usablity and comment that many of their customers are not aware of the importance of UXP and are not asking for relevant services such as user testing, heuristic reviews etc. Often this is time or budget related.

I think we have a long way to go yet to increase the awareness of UXP and to actually design web sites with a clear understanding of users and their goals.

In comparison the the States, I think awareness in Australia is much lower regarding UXP. A search for media articles will confirm this. However, in terms of putting UXP principles into practice, US companies and government agencies are as far behind as we are.

I think everyone is in agreement that web user experience and usability are critically important. However, it is rare to see many articles in Australia on this topic. A search of ZDNet will support this point. What we need to do is increase the awareness in Australia by writing more articles and sharing more knowledge.

Only then can we hope that things will change.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Jakob Nielsen, touted by Brend ...Matthew Howden -- 03/07/02

Jakob Nielsen, touted by Brendan Chase as the "Web usability guru" has got gall. Look at us taking the time to pass comment about his insulting remarks on popular Australian landmarks. It looks like he gets what he wants - publicity (I wonder which division of Microsoft pays his wage?).

At DDSN Interactive http://www.ddsn.com/, usability, accessibility, functionality and performance are at the top of our agenda. We invest many hours researching and understanding the requirements of the W3C guidelines, then test, test, test 'til the results are spectacular.

Our commitment to quality is particularly evidenced by our partnership with Performance Technologies Group (http://www.performancetechnologies.com/). Formal third party verification of the quality of a project improves both our efficiency and our ability to deliver.

Usability analysis forms a core part of our design process and all DDSN projects target at least W3C Priority 1 accessibility standards (we go to Priority 2 and 3 if the project warrants it). Depending on the nature of the project, we involve Performance Technologies Group for expert analysis at the design phase and for formal third party testing during the test & deploy phase.

"How accessible is Nielsen's own site?"

This is my personal opinion and may not be the opinion of my boss or the others in the company.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Time for a post with a brief title Mel Sommersberg -- 15/04/09

Australia is no worse than other countries when it comes to website usability. There are good sites and bad sites all over the world.

One good site I use all the time is http://livenews.com.au/. I prefer this site over the Fairfax and News Ltd sites because it is well laid out with good colour scheme and contrast, navigation is good, links are reliable and always work and most of the news comes from the same sources as other leading news websites. One other thing that impresses me at the moment is that Livenews, unlike Fairfax and News Ltd, doesn't disrupt your viewing experience with applets containing advertising. I'm not against advertising on a website but ads, like the content, need to be placed well and it is possible to do this to keep both the user and advertiser happy.

One of Australia's worst websites is http://nrl.com.au/, the site for the National Rugby League. This site has a gross over-use of Flash and over-use of colours. Layout isn't too bad but the static page size does not fit well on standard resolution 4:3 monitors. Performance of the website is dreadful and painfully slow. Navigation is also poor and the site frequently stalls. Clearly, its host server is not strong enough for the traffic it receives. I will add that Live Scores are NOT live.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

• Just In

• Most Popular

• Most Discussed

Reader Services

Popular Topics

Essentials