{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "IRS – Usability Case Study |Digital.gov",
    "description": "IRS – Usability Case Study",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/14/irs-usability-case-study/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"IRS \u0026#8211; Usability Case Study","summary" : "Acronyms and jargon are fine when you want to communicate quickly to an internal audiences or to like-minded readers. Once the scope of your audience widens, however, these elements can make your pages harder to understand. The IRS recognized that its pages about tax planning for retirement were reaching an audience beyond tax professionals, and","date" : "2012-12-14T16:05:59-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"jonathan-rubin" : "Jonathan Rubin"},"topics" : {
        
            "research" : "Research",
            "usability" : "Usability",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2012-12-14-irs-usability-case-study.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2012/12/2012-12-14-irs-usability-case-study.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2012/12/2012-12-14-irs-usability-case-study.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2012/12/2012-12-14-irs-usability-case-study.md","slug" : "irs-usability-case-study","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/14/irs-usability-case-study/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eAcronyms and jargon are fine when you want to communicate quickly to an internal audiences or to like-minded readers. Once the scope of your audience widens, however, these elements can make your pages harder to understand. The IRS recognized that its pages about tax planning for retirement were reaching an audience beyond tax professionals, and asked the DigitalGov User Experience Program to help test for usability and user experience.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter watching the tests, stakeholders and the testing team agreed that the following three problems presented obstacles to usability and a good user experience, and could be easily fixed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-1-too-many-links-and-extra-text\"\u003eProblem 1: Too Many Links and Extra Text\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was too much information on the page. Users were presented with a massive list of links, but no guidance on this landing page about where to begin.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-1-reduce-number-of-links-and-simplify-text\"\u003eSolution 1: Reduce Number of Links and Simplify Text\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe amount of links on the page were greatly reduced, and brief plain language explanations were added for each featured link in the main body of the page.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/IRS-before-new.jpg\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/IRS-before-new.jpg\"\n    alt=\"IRS before - new\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"heading-1\"\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-2-navigation-paths-for-different-audiences-not-identified\"\u003eProblem 2: Navigation Paths for Different Audiences Not Identified\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInformation on the page was geared toward many different users, but was not clearly identified. With no immediate direction towards information relevant to them, users could become quickly discouraged from continuing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-2-group-specific-pages-together-and-add-clear-navigation\"\u003eSolution 2: Group Specific Pages Together and Add Clear Navigation\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePages relating to specific groups of users were grouped together, and clear navigation was added to the landing page which guided users to the most relevant information for them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-3-jargon-and-inconsistent-language-confused-users\"\u003eProblem 3: Jargon and Inconsistent Language Confused Users\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe use of jargon and acronyms (ex. EPCRS, SARSEPs) compounded user confusion. Language was also inconsistent from one page to the next—some pages had different titles than the links which the users clicked.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-3-simplify-language\"\u003eSolution 3: Simplify Language\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn emphasis was placed on using plain language wherever possible on the site. The different audience groups are addressed in terms they would easily understand given their roles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe IRS team took the ideas from the First Fridays test and was able to implement them as part of their broader \u003ca href=\"http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans\"\u003eIRS website redesign\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/IRS-after-new.png\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/IRS-after-new.png\"\n    alt=\"IRS after - new\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}