• fully functional
• commercial - no personal sites
• in English
• severe problems concerning ease of use, preferabbly in all aspects

And don't reccomend any sites by anyone we know, anywhere.

I suppose I could find one myself, but (1) lazy, and (2) disheartened. Y'all are my secret weapon. I need to evaluate a site for usability issues and give recommendations for a paper. This is easier if the site needs recommendations, which means I need an awful, awful site to evaluate.

Any ideas?

Your own recommendations not necessary or desired - I'll write the paper. But I'll post it if y'all want to see it.

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On School
I think I'm in over my head this semester. I am taking two grad classes, in addition to working full time and being involved in a demanding hobby that I can't and don't want to give up, and I'm behind in school. I thought I'd be closer to school, but I'm not. I'm still an hour away, and I don't have a computer at home.

I have enough time to do everything, but only if I do nothing else. It's starting to effect my happiness, which is kind of delicate and I have to be diligent about it. I'm not sure what to do. I shouldn't have left during the semester. I'm behind enough that I'm dreading all the work to catch up, much less do well.

Also, I have gotten my first paper back, and I got a B on it. That sapped a lot of the fun - I like school because it makes me feel good about myself. If I'm not doing well, then what the heck am I here for?

[ October 03, 2005, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
 

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Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
www.usu.edu isn't a horrible site, but it definitely has issues. Going to the library site and trying to download the VPN client, for instance. Or trying to navigate Access. The look and functionality change drastically from department to department. It's a big hodge-podge once you get past the USU home sections. If you dig, you'll find lots of usability issues.

I had to design and run an entire usability test over the summer for my class. My final report was 70 pages long with all the appendices and transcripts I had to include. That was one of the harder school assignments I've ever had. So I empathize, kat.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
I find the website of my high school, Castle High School, to be virtually unnavigable for a wide variety of reasons.
 

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Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
 
afr, that's what we are going to do this semester, but I have another class besides. I'm wondering if taking two classes along with everything else was a bad idea. I want to get done, but I also want to do well and enjoy it.

Thank you for the links. *goes to explore*
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
(try flipping through some of the department pages under "Staff" for a good look)
 

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Posted by Diosmel Duda (Member # 2180) on :
 
I always hated AIM, BYU's internal site for managing tuition, grades, financial aid, registration, etc. Everything was at least three layers in, and often you'd get to a page only to find a link to the page you wanted. For instance, if you clicked "Register for Classes," you'd get to a blank page with a link that said "Register for Classes," which you'd have to click in order to begin. STUPID.

However, not being a BYU student yourself, you can't really go check it out. Otherwise . . . hmmm. I'll have to think about it.
 

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Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
 
Sorry to add stress, kat. It was a big assignment, but I was taking the Usability class as an 8-week course rather than a 15-week course, so everything was time-compressed. I think everything would go a lot smoother if I had to do it again. Definitely the most stressful part for me was recruiting the right participants and getting all the test sessions scheduled. It was quite a juggling act.

The secret is to set it up so you can gather the maximum amount of data possible about everybody and everything. If you haven't set it up to gather the right data, the rest of the test and the report will be that much harder. You have to be ready to collect all the data you know you're going to need even before you start recruiting.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
I have huge problems with finding anything or getting the right places on the Pie n' Burger website.

Edit: although it looks like they might have fixed some of their problems in the last month or so.
 

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Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
 
Maybe the Aetna DocFind website? I knew the name of the dentist that I wanted to find the ID # for, and still it took me 10 minutes.
 

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Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
 
Oooh, I know! The California DHS website. It is so hard to find the information you want on that site-- things link to places that don't have the information you're supposed to, it's almost impossible to find a Social Services office in L.A. unless you know you're supposed to actually go to a different website, and in fact, I have never been able to get to that website from the CA website-- I had to google it seperately to find it.

I knew I had just used a horrible website.
 

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Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
 
I wish I could remember a site I saw earlier this week - the text was blue lettering on a darker blue background. I can't even remember what I was searching for that led me to it (insert hair-pulling-out smiley here). If I remember it (doubtful) I'll post here.

Or, here's one: The Blanden Memorial Art Museum. They can't even put the hours and phone number on their "coming soon" page? This was a fully functioning Web site until recently - I hope the new site is worth the wait.
 

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Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese:
I find the website of my high school, Castle High School, to be virtually unnavigable for a wide variety of reasons.

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Yeah, I clicked on Academics and found this: Foregin Language.
 

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Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
 
Okay, I am ready for this. It's overdue. I'm behind in school. I have no excuse, except that I hate being on the computer all weekend when I'm on it all day. My last class was mostly group work, and this class will be as well as soon as we get past all the assignments phase.

I think an e-commerice site would be great, if it would be possible. There are SO many things that can go wrong in the checkout. Anyone ever buy anything online where the process was unusually difficult?
 

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Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
 
Didn't a hatracker just complain about online customer service at a fairly large site?

I remember something about he's buying from Canada but shipping to the US and that totally confused the site. Let me go dig a little.

EDIT: The thread I was thinking of is here, unfortunately there's no mention of which website it was that was causing the problem. Ah well.
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
(((kat)))

I'm completely disillusioned with school myself and I know how you feel - I am taking a class I really think I should get an A in and instead have a B. I got a B on the first test, so for the second test I studied two hours longer and really, really tried to be ready for it - I got the exact same score as the first test. Very disheartening - I mean, what did all that extra effort gain me? Nothing.

I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to withdraw - the refund deadline is past, I've already paid for it all, I need to stay and finish the semester and I have A's in the other two classes I'm taking. It's silly to be upset over 2 A's and a B. But still.

Hang in there. I hope you start to feel better about school soon. I know if I go back next semester (big IF) I will switch majors.
 

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