Read the second part of our usability study on Skype’s new Beta, which reveals potential difficulties with its presentation, navigation, structure and functionality.
Usability Study of Skype 4.0 Beta 1 - Part 2
5. Results
Pre-session Interview
People who had never used Skype before expected to find clear instructions on how to use Skype services, a simple interface and information about the costs. Free Skype-to-Skype calls and cheap international calls were considered the most popular services by the existing Skype users, whereas conference calls and file transferring were described problematic.
Task Performance
Task performance revealed many important findings which indicated the numerous problematic areas in the presentation, navigation, structure and functionality of Skype 4.0 Beta. Some of the key findings are described below:
Figure 3 Content was overlapped when the window size was decreased.
a. Finding: The size of the application’s window was described as unnecessarily big and the content was overlapped when the users tried to decrease it.
Recommendation: Allow users to select a desirable window size without the content being overlapped.
Figure 4 The conversation window had many unclear icons.
b. Finding: The purpose of many icons was considered not obvious and unclear.
Recommendation: Provide intuitive and distinct icons, and ensure that their purpose is not misinterpreted by looking similar to other buttons.
Figure 5 The search for contacts had no option for advanced searching or sorting the search results.
c. Finding: Users wanted to be able to narrow down the search for contacts and also to sort the search results easily.
Recommendation: Ensure the contacts search facility is effective and provides intuitive advanced search and filtering methods.
d. Finding: It was not clear when a contact was finally added to the user’s list as no confirmation message was given.
Recommendation: Provide appropriate feedback through clearly defined messages to keep users informed about what is going on.
e. Finding: All the users wondered how they could view their credit balance.
Recommendation: Make important information, such as the user’s credit balance, visible and accessible at any point throughout the application.
Eye Tracking
The image below demonstrates an example scan path extracted by the eye tracking analysis. The blue dots are fixations that indicate where the eyes looked and the information processed. Larger dots show that more time has been spent looking at the elements on the screen.
Figure 6 An example of an eye tracking scan path for the first page
f. Finding: During the first seconds of viewing the first page, all of the users’ attention has been attracted by the right area of the screen, without noticing the important options on the left.
Recommendation: Enhance the application’s presentation so that users will not spend unnecessary time and get disappointed while trying to detect the options that will allow them to start using the application.
Post-session interview
Overall the application was considered very useful and easy to use but with a potential for improvement. In general, users wanted a better interface design, clearer navigation mechanisms, and also highlighted the importance of accessing their credit balance at any time.
Design
Although some users supported that they did not have many design expectations from this kind of applications, a better layout with smaller window size and more intuitive icons was considered necessary by everyone.
Figure 7 Users’ comments on the design of the conversation page.
6. Conclusion
Our usability study demonstrated how the contribution of real users can reveal a number of significant findings and recommendations. The Skype 4.0 Beta 1 was overall described useful and easy to use, but with poor layout, not obvious icons, unclear navigation and information structure.
For that reason, an exploration of alternative solutions to the site structure and naming conventions to provide a more intuitive and efficient user experience is considered essential. The outcomes of this study can be used as the foundation for building a more intuitive, engaging and efficient new version of the popular web application.