Heuristic Evaluation Issues

[raxelg]

Heuristic Evaluation

Minor: Registration/reset password confirmation messages do not mention to check junk/spam (Error Prevention)

Once the user registers an account or resets their password, they might think the activation email is not sent because it does not appear in their inbox but it could be in their junk/spam folder.

Recommendation: Add “Please check your junk/spam folders”

Minor: Dropdown to gives same functionality available as other groups (Aesthetics & minimalist design)

The dropdown in the navigation bar has repeated functionality as the My Groups and Explore Groups have the same affordances as the dropdown.

Recommendation: Remove dropdown and make My Groups page the landing page

Cosmetic: New Group and Create New Group buttons have same function but different names (Consistency & standards)

The buttons to create new groups in the Explore Group and My Groups pages are inconsistent in their naming which creates confusing signifiers for their respective functionality.

Recommendation: Standardize both buttons to Create New Group because it matches the form that opens up

Major: Search feature in My Groups does not work (Flexibility & efficiency)

If the user tries to search for groups in their My Groups page the listing of groups
does not filter the groups to match the search input but the user.

Recommendation: Add/fix search functionality

(Also doesn’t work for search within posts)

Cosmetic: Column names repeated in public groups (Aesthetics & minimalist design)

Column names for entries of public groups to join are repeated at the bottom which adds unnecessary components to the table

Cosmetic: The icon that shows you’re a member of a group is small and transparent (Match the real world)

When a user looks through the mailing groups in the Explore Groups page, the Member column has a small, mostly white rectangle that is difficult to notice. The icon could be more visible and contrasted or could be replaced by a more universal icon. (Could be buggy icon)

Recommendation: Change to a checkmark or more visible feedback

Cosmetic: The Next and View Posts links are small and require a lot of accuracy to click (Fitts’s Law & Efficiency; Consistency)

The Next link at the bottom of the Explore Groups page and the View Posts link in a mailing group’s detail page have a small target area.

Recommendation: Turn the links into buttons to improve the target area

Cosmetic: Selection checkboxes are small and their target area is not the whole container (Fitts’s Law & Efficiency)

When the user tries to select an email from the do-not-send, members, and associated mailing lists, the user needs to precisely click the small target area of the checkbox. The container does not act as a clickable area which would make the process more efficient.

Recommendation: Make the container where the checkboxes are clickable to toggle the checkbox or make the checkboxes bigger with a smaller container

Major: Database error when unsubscribing from created group (Error reporting, diagnosis, and recovery)

If a user unsubscribes from a group they created, the dialog box pop ups with a database error that is not informative of what went wrong. There shouldn’t be an error reported about unsubscribing from a user’s own created group unless explicitly stated.

(Deleting self as only remaining admin is possible and Associated Mailing List is buggy (can add same mailing list twice))

[soyapark]

Thanks for sharing this! Very helpful instructions.
As a next task, what about tackling one of major issues? So search bar is bit complicated, so I think the last item is viable to fix and very critical user experience. I've crated a separate issue for the task: #284