Courthouse Libraries BC’s Open Invite in UX Testing “Sprint” to Improve Website

• Author: Nate Russell
• Date: June 26, 2017

The key to improving ease of use is to erase assumptions.

That’s important when aiming to improve website usability, generally, but it’s not always easy when you’re dealing with an esoteric culture of users (such as lawyers) who are used to finding information according to old patterns.

Calling all BC residents – help @theCLBC improve usability on its website and enter for a chance to win https://t.co/TRptSQsUDt #BCLegal pic.twitter.com/hRammoMW7C

— Clicklaw (@Clicklaw) June 26, 2017

Luckily, tools like Treejack, offer “tree testing” as a “usability technique for evaluating the findability of topics in a website.” This is a structure way to test old assumptions.

Courthouse Libraries BC is using Treejack this week in its hopes to get enough responses by Wednesday, June 28 to inform its website re-platforming project. A lot has changed since the Library’s current website was developed back in 2008 – a time when mobile web was barely nascent. Back then, a survey of the profession revealed that a mere 36% of lawyers even used a “smart phone/PDA” at all… let alone for web-content. Today, approximately half of web visits are via mobile and the needs of web-users are remarkably different to what they were in 2008.

Accordingly, the Library is in the early stages of reorganizing the content on its website to make it easier to find.

While we would like to assume that we’ve arranged it all in a way that makes sense, we’d like to hear from users (including non-lawyers!).

Courthouse Libraries BC is inviting all comers to fill out a 10 minute interactive survey.

Those who complete it any time before 5pm (Pacific) on Wednesday June 28, 2017 are entered to win one of two $50 gift cards.

https://openroad.optimalworkshop.com/treejack/courthouselibrariesbc-0

— Nate Russell is a liaison lawyer with Courthouse Libraries BC. Find him on Twitter @nrusse.