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Assessing a Firm's Web Presence: A Heuristic Evaluation Procedure for the Measurement of Usability

Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742-1815
Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742-1815
ragarwal{at}rhsmith.umd.edu
vvenkate{at}rhsmith.umd.edu

Web site usability is a critical metric for assessing the quality of a firm's Web presence. A measure of usability must not only provide a global rating for a specific Web site, ideally it should also illuminate specific strengths and weaknesses associated with site design. In this paper, we describe a heuristic evaluation procedure for examining the usability of Web sites. The procedure utilizes a comprehensive set of usability guidelines developed by Microsoft.

We present the categories and subcategories comprising these guidelines, and 7discuss the development of an instrument that operationalizes the measurement of usability. The proposed instrument was tested in a heuristic evaluation study where 1,475 users rated multiple Web sites from four different industry sectors: airlines, online bookstores, automobile manufacturers, and car rental agencies. To enhance the external validity of the study, users were asked to assume the role of a consumer or an investor when assessing usability. Empirical results suggest that the evaluation procedure, the instrument, as well as the usability metric exhibit good properties. Implications of the findings for researchers, for Web site designers, and for heuristic evaluation methods in usability testing are offered.

Key Words: Usability; Heuristic Evaluation; Microsoft Usability Guidelines; Human-Computer Interaction; Web Interface
History: This paper was received on January 10, 2000.

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