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Usability review: www.talkingdoc.net |
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The Web and Technology Updates |
David Palmiter |
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After a taking respite from this column, I’m returning with a usability review of www.talkingdoc.net. This is the site of psychologist Dr. Catherine Walsh, located in Mount Pleasant, SC. To get the most out of this article I’d recommend you go to this site, and explore it for yourself first. As with prior studies, employing the users’ computers, I asked three people to imagine that they were shopping for a therapist and that they had come upon this site. I asked them to pretend the practice was located in their area and to use the site as they would in that context. I asked them to try to ignore my presence (I sat behind them taking notes), and to think out loud as much as possible. The only remarks I made were things like “what are you thinking?” and “could you say more about that?” At the end I asked to fill in a brief survey regarding the site and practice. The first user is a 29 year old, Caucasian, married, mother who is a fulltime student. I asked this person to use the site as if she were looking for therapy for herself secondary to adjustment issues. The second person is a 53 year old, Caucasian, married father who is employed as an educator. I asked this person to use the site as if he were looking for care for one of his adolescent sons (I suggested a hypothetical depression). The third person is a 39 year old, African-American, married mother employed as a manager. I asked her to use the site as if she were looking for treatment for one of her daughters (I suggested a hypothetical anxiety disorder). Their comments are below (my comments follow in italics). All three users commented that they liked the picture on the homepage. The man and the younger woman said that they felt warmth emanating from it. [I really like this picture and how it is presented on the home page.] The content of the text on the home page got mixed responses, though the slant was mostly positive. The older woman and the man came away with an overall sense of competence and experience. The younger woman indicated she thought the text meant that Dr. Walsh tries “to treat everything.” She said that caused her to feel cautious. All three users expressed confusion over the term “solution-oriented therapy methods” though the man said that it sounded good to him. The older woman wished for an articulation of how treatments worked and how Dr. Walsh is able to help people to “maintain gains made in therapy” (she actually looked through the office forms for more information on that); she also expressed confusion over what “find the right school” meant, and mused “wouldn’t it be better to make the school the kid is in work for her?” [I have six reactions to the home page. First, it has a clean and elegant design. Second, I’ve found that the same text will sound great to one user while it will alarm another. While one can always tweak language, I don’t know that I would sweat this too much. Third, I would change the color of the text to black as other colors, particularly light ones, are more difficult to read; this comment goes for the rest of the site as well. Fourth, I would take most of this text and use it to create a new section on the web site, something like “services offered.” Fifth, it’s good to keep text on a homepage to a minimum. For instance, two of the users’ monitors required them to scroll down to read everything; this is to be avoided whenever possible. A homepage is considered a welcome mat that lets a user know what is found on the site. Sixth, I would change the title bar from “Talking Doc” to wording that would better facilitate linkage with search engines. That is, one of the ways search engines find sites is to catalogue the text found in the title bar. So, I’d use terms that people might be disposed to plug into a search engine. Something like “Psychologist and child therapist located in Mount Pleasant, SC.”] After examining the homepage the man and the younger woman clicked on the office link next. These two users very much liked the picture of the office, finding it to be “warm,” “clean,” and “confidential.” [It’s really nice. I confess that I experienced office-envy.] The older woman clicked on that link because she was expecting to see a picture of the office staff, noting that other sections of the site used plural pronouns and included references to colleagues who cover from time-to-time. Because she was looking for that, she expressed mild dismay when the office space appeared; she went on to ask: “where are the toys? I thought she does play therapy.” The younger woman also wondered about the composition of the staff, as she was wanted to tally the number of people who might have access to her information. All three users clicked on the CV link early in their visit. The man and older woman noted that the quality of it would be an important factor in their decision-making. All three users were impressed by the credentials, but particularly that Dr. Walsh did her doctoral work at the University of Virginia. All three users also noticed the years involved in Dr. Walsh’s undergraduate training and wondered about the span of time; while they started to play with unflattering judgments about those years; they took them back when they focused on where her doctoral training occurred. On balance, all three users found Dr. Walsh’s experience to be varied, considerable and important. [I agree with the positive comments made by the users. The only suggestion I would have for this page would be to make it less wide. Side-to-side scrolling was required in order to view all of the page; this is another thing to avoid whenever possible.] The users had a wide range of reactions to the intake forms; and spent most of their time on the site reviewing this content. The man had nothing but praise for the forms. He liked that Dr. Walsh had her policies and procedures available for review. He concluded that she has nothing to hide, is competent and sensitive to her clients’ needs. He especially liked that one of the forms discusses the option of obtaining a second opinion; he said this suggests she’s confident. On the other hand, the younger woman had a negative reaction to some of the language regarding limits to confidentiality (e.g., “so if I break my hand at work and am out for a few weeks my records could be reviewed?!”) She also expressed confusion regarding “psychotherapy notes” and said “that freaks me out.” On the other hand, she liked the description of how the clinical work unfolds and noted that it seemed well thought out and designed. While up to this point the younger woman was making spontaneous comments that she would enjoy seeing Dr. Walsh for an initial consultation, she changed her mind after reviewing this information. The older woman has an overall positive impression to the forms. For instance, she liked the articulation of the limits to confidentiality. She also liked that Dr. Walsh would try to keep her apprised of her daughter’s care. On the other hand, she said she questioned why the intake was more expensive than the other sessions; she speculated that the appointment might be longer than 50 minutes, but was looking for reassurance about that. She also expressed concern that someone from the billing company could know her or her daughter, and that she would have no way of knowing about that. [Allow me to make four comments about these forms. First, I liked the forms, and found them to be well organized and articulated. Second, we would probably all do well to raise our awareness regarding how people seeking our services might perceive legalistic language prior to the first appointment. Were I to make such forms available on my website, I would probably include additional qualifiers. For instance: “I need to tell you about the limits to confidentiality that apply to all practitioners in this state. But please know that I’ll make every reasonable effort to keep our work confidential; obviously, our time together won’t be of significant benefit to you unless you can trust me.” Or, “… in the past x number of years, one of these exceptions to confidentiality has occurred only y number of times in my practice.” Third, It’s unclear from the site if Dr. Walsh allows people to bring in signed copies of these documents to file in the chart. If yes, I might avoid doing that, as one never knows if one is dealing with a devious person who has made changes. Moreover, if a client brings in a signed form, and is then asked to sign a new one in the office, this could cause the person to take it personally (i.e., Dr. Z doesn’t trust me). Fourth, I might consider adding a link to the billing company’s website, at least if it lists the names of the employees who will have access to confidential information. Otherwise, I might list the names of the people at the billing company who have access and update it each quarter.] The man and younger woman clicked on and off the links page fairly quickly, without comment. The older woman had a negative reaction to one of the links, noting “I heard that they discriminate against women, so I wonder why she would be affiliated them.” [I don’t think I would change these links. I do have a suggestion, though. Links pages usually take users to websites where complimentary information and resources can be found (e.g., support groups, information clearinghouses, etc.). I think it would be a nice addition to this site to create such links. For now, I would probably integrate the links that are here into the CV page, and eliminate the links icon on the homepage.] All three users liked the bibliography page. The younger woman noted that she might return later and print out the list. The older woman indicated a slight concern that she could not find any books on anxiety disorders in children (remember I had asked her to explore the site as if she were looking for help in alleviating symptoms of anxiety in her daughter). She said she was also surprised not to see Russell Barkley’s name listed among the resources pertaining to ADHD. [Bibliographies can always be expanded. I know I find it very difficult to keep mine up-to-date. Anyway, one way to grow this page further would be to create links, for each book, to an Internet bookseller. Several of these retailers also have commission programs; this doesn’t add up to much, but if you can get a free Disney DVD for your kid every now and again, why not?] All three users appreciated the insurance page, noting that this would be very helpful information. The older woman said she would also like to see information telling her where she might go if her insurance wasn’t listed and she could not afford to pay out of pocket. When making closing remarks the man said, “I like her and this page. It’s got everything that you’d want to know, and it’s well designed.” The younger woman said, “I wouldn’t go to her. I would want someone my age and I don’t think she specializes in adults.” The older woman said “while I have some questions about one of her affiliations, and about how she works, I’d probably give her a call and take the next step.” I asked the three users to complete the following items (answers were on a five-point scale, with a 5.0 being the best rating and a 3.0 being a neutral rating:
That’s it for the users’ feedback. I have a few additional comments:
My last step was to investigate searchability. I did searches on Google, Yahoo and Lycos using terms I imagined Dr. Walsh’s prospective clients might use to find a therapist. The search terms I used are listed in the first column in the chart below. I only looked at the first three pages of the results as most users do not find all available choices and choose the best one, but find the first reasonable choice and go with that one. “1st page” means that the site came up on the first page of listings; this is desirable. “Top listing” means that the site placed first overall; this is highly desirable. “Absent” means that the site did not come up on the first three pages. There are some things to build on here. And, it would not take a lot of time to enhance this site’s searchability. Some initial ideas about how to do this are contained in an article I wrote for the IP that was published in the Fall 2002 edition (electronic editions of these articles can be found on the division’s web page as well as on my website). This information is also commonly available in books on web page authoring. That’s it for this edition. I want to very much thank Dr. Walsh for volunteering her site for a public review; I hope that this experience has been a positive one for you. Dr. Gordon Hertz, the Internet Editor for Division 42, has asked me to do a usability study of the division’s web site. So, look for that in the next edition of the IP. To further inform this process, I’d very much like to receive your comments about the usability of the site. Finally, I’ll be doing a presentation on usability issues at APA this year. So, if this topic interests you, keep an eye out. |
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