SWE 432 Homework 5
Fall 2009
Readability, Legibility, and Writing For the Web: Due October 8


For this exercise I want you to do apply the ideas in Chapters 7 and 8 of Nielsen to a web site that does some things well, and other things not-so-well according to the criteria in Chapters 7 and 8. This requirement descibes a large number of web sites! As in the past assignment, the particular web site is of your choosing.

You should identify one or more tasks relevant to the web site, and describe how the criteria in Chapters 7 and 8 evaluate at various stages along the path to completing that task. For example, if at some point, you are required to click a link with a nondescriptive label, note that, and provide a better label. Or, if you are forced to read through a section of dense text, rewrite that text as appropriate. You don't have to fix the entire web site, just the portions of each page that you touch during your task completion.

Your report should be readable without forcing the reader to repeat your task!

For this project, you are permitted to work individually, or in groups of two (2). I am not looking for a lot of length here - something comparable to previous usability assignments is fine.

Submit your report by making a link to it on your (password-protected) class web page. This should be the URL that you gave us in the information form! Very important: if you are going to use a different URL, submit an update to the information form.

Grading will be on