Websites that require user interaction, for example shopping sites, have much more complex user interfaces than websites that only present information. For such websites, Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics for User Interface Design is a good starting point for conducting a test.
Ole Gregersen and Ian Wisler-Poulsen (Usability, 2011) suggests rating issues on a scale from one to four:
Cosmetic issue that doesn’t prevent the website being used properly, but which should be fixed when possible.
Minor issue that makes it difficult to understand or carry out actions on the website, and which should be fixed soon.
Serious issue, which creates significant issues when using the website, and which must be fixed as soon as possible.
Catastrophic issue which makes it impossible to carry out actions, and which must be fixed immediately.
Disclaimer: This test is for educational purposes only. This website not affiliated with Bornholmermarked
Bornholmermarked
This website is a community sales portal, similar to eBay. The website is named after the island of Bornholm
Name confusion
Heuristic
2: Match between system and the real world
Location
Entire site
Issue
The website is named after a specific geographical location. This can lead both buyers and sellers to suspect that the website can not be used outside this area, causing them to find another website.
Severity
2
Solution
Option 1: Re-name the site. Option 2: Add a tagline along the lines of Not just for Bornholm.
Log-in status
Heuristic
1: Visibility of system status
Location
Entire site
Issue
The menu item Mit marked (my market) has four options specific to logged-in users (Profile, My ads, Search agent, and Favourites). Despite this, the menu item is available to all users. This can lead new users to think that they can interact with it immediately, and existing users to think that they are logged in when they are not. Clicking one of the options takes the user to the log-in screen.
Severity
2
Solution
Hide the menu item unless the user is logged in.
Header of Bornholmermarked front page, showing drop-down to all users rather than just logged-in ones, 8 May 2020.
Users can post both sales and wanted ads. It is, however, very difficult to tell these apart. On the front page, there are two tabs for Sælges (selling) and Købes (buying), respectively. Once the user has clicked this, the listing will update. If the user forgets that they have switched tab, however, there is no indication in the listings themselves that they are now browsing wanted ads rather than sales ads. Similarly, unless the seller or buyer has specified it in the ads themselves, there is no indication on the individual ads either.
Severity
3
Solution
Clearly indicate whether an ad is a sales or wanted ad.
Ads for anonymous sellers
Heuristic
1: Visibility of system status 5: Error prevention
It is possible to place an anonymous ad. Anonymous ads will not appear in the users’ account. There is a pop-up informing the user of this, however, many users are conditioned to close pop-ups without reading them. Combined with the issue above that the indication of the log-in status is poor, this can lead to users posting anonymous ads even though they have an account.
Severity
3
Solution
Add a warning text next to the Create ad button, and a second confirmation pop-up that the user wish to be anonymous.
If the user is in the process of creating an ad before logging in, and they click the log-in pop-up, they are not directed back to the create ad page, and the information they entered is not saved.
Severity
3
Solution
Return the user to the ad form after logging in, and pre-populate the fields with the information they had already entered.
While advertisements are no doubt necessary to finance the website, there are a total of 20 banner ads on the front page. Many of these ads are also animated, and some are mixed in between the sales ads. This makes the website very distracting to browse.
Severity
2
Solution
Reduce number of advertisements or remove advertisement animations.
Users have the option to browse the ad categories, but the way to do so is quite difficult to spot. The user has to click a button that looks like it has to do with filtering a set of search results before they get a list of category groups. It is also non-standard behavior that this is a button rather than a link, as buttons should be reserved for actions, not navigation.
Severity
2
Solution
Show some or all the category groups on the main page, above the fold, without the user having to perform any actions.
Header of Bornholmermarked front page, with the button to show categories highlighted, 8 May 2020.
