Heuristic Evaluations

 

10 Heuristic Evaluations about JRS Books

Issue	Description	Severity
Aesthetic & Minimalist Design	The pictures in the Author’s Corner are disproportionate to the text on the page. This makes it hard to read the text and browse to the next book. The pictures are large and could interfere with the reading of the text, possibly causing the reader to become disinterested in the blog, preventing further browsing.	3-Major usability problem. Priority should be given to this issue.
Visibility of System Status	When a user switches from one page to the next, the load time refers to the duration it takes for the browser to fetch and display the content of the new page. The load time for JRS Books is slightly slower than what the user might expect.	2-Minor usability problem.
Recognize and Recover from Error	When clicking on the “Contact” button, an error occurs. This can prevent the user from contacting the business.	3 - Major usability problem. Priority should be given to this issue.
Recognition Rather Than Recall	When a user wants to navigate from one collection of books to another, there are no “breadcrumbs” allowing the user to navigate their way back to the beginning. This can make it hard for the user to freely browse the website without frustration.   Picture above shows the lack of breadcrumbs.	2-Minor usability problem. This should be fixed.
Match Between System and Real World	One of the joys of buying books is the ability to browse and look at the new books. When browsing JRS Books, it does not have the comfortable feel of browsing. The site is hard to navigate and does not feel intuitive.	3-Major usability problem. Priority should be given to this issue.
User Control and Freedom	When users navigate to the JRS Shirts page from the JRS Books website, there is currently no option available for them to easily return to the JRS Books website. The absence of an "exit" link on the JRS Shirts page may result in frustration, as users might need to close the tab and reopen it to return to the main JRS Books website.	3-Major usability problem. Priority should be given to this issue.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design	The shirts on the JRS Shirts website do not have a description of what the t-shirt says on it. This is often provided to give the user an idea of what they are buying. On this site, the user will have to click each one individually to read it. That is very time consuming, and the user will quickly lose attention.  The picture above shows a shirt having no description below it.	2-Minor usability problem. This should be fixed.
Consistency and Standards	The color scheme on the JRS Books website and the color scheme on the sister JRS Shirts website are two different colors. The JRS Books website has a maroon color scheme and the JRS Shirts has a green color scheme. The colors should match and be similar enough that the user knows they belong together.  JRS Books homepage JRS Shirts homepage.	2-Minor usability problem. This should be fixed.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use	When the user adds something to the shopping cart using the bottom shopping cart button, the user is then taken to the shopping cart and cannot complete shopping. This can lead to frustration for the user if the user wants to continue shopping and not check out each item individually.  Shopping Cart Demo	3 - Major usability problem. Priority should be given to this issue.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design	Certain books lack cover images, posing a potential issue for users since readers typically desire visual representations of book covers. The absence of cover pictures may deter potential buyers, as individuals are generally hesitant to purchase something without a visual preview.  The picture above shows a book for sale with no book cover showing.	2-Minor usability problem. This should be fixed.