{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Commerce Departmental Library – Usability Case Study |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Commerce Departmental Library – Usability Case Study",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/01/23/commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Commerce Departmental Library \u0026#8211; Usability Case Study","summary" : "A website with too much information on the homepage, or any page, will overwhelm users in less than a second. They will be unable to find a starting point to accomplish what they came there to do. If users are not able to locate the information they need and/or are unable to get past the","date" : "2013-01-23T11:37:08-04:00","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" :"2013-01-23-commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2013/01/2013-01-23-commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2013/01/2013-01-23-commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2013/01/2013-01-23-commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study.md","slug" : "commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/01/23/commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eA website with too much information on the homepage, or any page, will overwhelm users in less than a second. They will be unable to find a starting point to accomplish what they came there to do. If users are not able to locate the information they need and/or are unable to get past the homepage, they will go to another website to look for the information they are seeking.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe DigitalGov User Experience Program helped test the \u003ca href=\"http://library.doc.gov/client/default\"\u003eU.S. Department of Commerce Library\u003c/a\u003e website in November 2012. The Commerce team made some small changes that had significant impact.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-1-top-navigation-labels-too-vague\"\u003eProblem 1: Top Navigation Labels Too Vague\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe labels in the top navigation are too vague and didn’t successfully convey to users what information lies beyond the link.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-1-rename-navigation-labels\"\u003eSolution 1: Rename Navigation Labels\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLabels in the top navigation were changed to make it clearer about what information it contains. For example, “E-Resources A-Z” was changed to “Databases A-Z,” “Subject Guides” was changed to “Databases by Subject,” and “E-Gov Docs” was changed to “Government Docs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/commerce-departmental-library-before1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/commerce-departmental-library-before1.jpg\"\n    alt=\"commerce department before screen shot\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-2-left-column-too-long\"\u003eProblem 2: Left Column Too Long\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe left-hand column was really long, had too much information and too many links.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-2-move-left-column-information\"\u003eSolution 2: Move Left Column Information\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Quick Links remained in the left-hand column, but the rest of the information was moved elsewhere on the page or moved to another page on the site. The amount of information in the left-hand column was reduced, making the column shorter, which makes the page look less overwhelming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"problem-3-right-column-using-too-many-fonts-and-important-information-hard-to-find\"\u003eProblem 3: Right Column Using Too Many Fonts and Important Information Hard to Find\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe right-hand column used so many different fonts and styles that it was hard to read. And the most important information—the training schedule—wasn’t at the top of the page.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"solution-3-move-less-important-information\"\u003eSolution 3: Move Less Important Information\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Training Schedule remained and the Library Newsletter information from the left-hand column was moved to the right-hand side. The rest of the information was moved to reduce the information overload of that area of the page.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBased on the usability data gathered from their test, the Commerce Department Library made the following changes to enhance the usability of their website.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/commerce-departmental-library-after1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/commerce-departmental-library-after1.jpg\"\n    alt=\"commerce department after screen shot\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e​\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}