Dana is a co-worker and parent of two children. She gave me access to her school’s parent portal in order for me to evaluate it in the beginning stages of my own design process. Dana has used parent portals as long as her children have been in middle and high school. She reviewed my website on an HP Chromebook using Google Chrome.
Jayna is another co-worker and parent of one child. She also gave me access to her school’s parent portal (different school than Dana’s) in order for me to evaluate it in the beginning stages of my own design process. Jayna has used parent portals as long as her daughter has been in middle school. She also reviewed my website on an HP Chromebook using Google Chrome.
Zach is my fiance and an engineer who is familiar with web design. He reviewed my website for design and HTML/CSS. He reviewed my website on an Asus laptop using Google Chrome.
Shawn is a fellow web design classmate. He evaluated my website for design and HTML/CSS.
| Design | 42 out of 43 |
| Content | 33 out of 35 |
| Credibility | 28 out of 30 |
All agreed that my website was easy to navigate. I also had numerous comments on the color scheme. Dana in particular really liked the use of blues. All agreed the information presented was straight-forward and useful. Jayna was unsure if she return much or just a few times a month to “check in.”
Dana had trouble finding an email/contact link, which is located at the bottom of the page in the footer.
Shawn suggested that I get rid of the log out / login button, as the current mock-up does not require authentication to view.
Zach noted that the title on the banner blends in to the banner at certain points and is difficult to read. He did, however, appreciate how the link buttons changed color according to which page he was on.
All also commented on how the site was clearly unfinished. The calendar is just an image, and no one can navigate from one month to the next. Some pages only say “content here.”
Based on the evaluations, my website would support my use cases. I do say “would” because until it is linked with a database, some features will not be fully functional.
At the moment, the calendar is not interactive, which does not support the calendar use case. While an image can show assignment due dates, the users will not be able to navigate back and forth between months or add their own events. I feel like this is a very important piece of the parent portal and it would definitely be upgraded once it was linked to a school’s database and servers.
Likewise, the grades are also not interactive. However, they are still useful in that they can be updated on a regular basis and show what the student’s current grade is. The only part that would be upgraded upon database linking would be that users would be able to scroll through previous assignments.
The teacher blog with teacher comments is up and running! Originally I had planned on this part being more like a comment section, but the evaluators were still pleased with the button to email the teachers directly from the blog area. They also really liked the pictures chosen for the teachers.
I will ensure that the contact information is more easy to find and more visible. There is a Teacher Contact navigation element, but that wouldn’t let a visitor contact the site administrator. I will rename the contact link in the footer so it is clear it contacts the site admin as opposed to a school person.
I will leave the log out / login button, though. Once the website is fully launched and linked to a school database, users will be required to authenticate in order to view their student’s data. It is best for potential clients to see what the full site will look like, including all applicable links and buttons.
I will finish the pages that only say “content here” and input a new, updated calendar image. Until the website is linked with a database, though, it will remain non-interactive, along with other elements such as grades.
It was really helpful to have my evaluators be the same people who I originally interviewed! They seemed pleased that I obviously listened to their suggestions and complaints about their current parent portals. One even said that if their portal looked more like the one I made, she might actually get some use out of it!
Of course, it was eqaully helpful to have people review my site who know how to code. I always appreciate feedback on how to make my code cleaner and more semantically correct.
I feel like it was much more helpful to interview people than it was to obtain a number for feedback. I liked watching them go through the site and see how they used it, or just hearing them talk about it. I know it is less formal, but I think that is what makes it better, too. People are more comfortable and feel freer to say what they really think or feel.