As Is Evaluation of the OSU Off-Campus Housing Web Site

OSU Office of Student Life Neighborhood Services and Collaboration

http://offcampus.osu.edu/

Summary

Overall Grade: B

Although the site is well designed in general to fulfill its goal of providing a wide array of resources regarding off-campus living, it has usability issues which we can learn from in designing our own housing search web site.  The OSU site requires geographic searches to be done by zip code, which requires "knowledge in the head" that most students don't have; a drop down menu listing neighborhoods would be a better choice.  It buries annual surveys of students regarding landlords at a link titled "USG Renter's Guide;" this title does not make it obvious what this document has to offer.  The site also can't be tailored for use during repeated visits; if students had the option to log in (via BuckeyeLink, since this is an OSU site), then the system could be designed to save searches.

Visibility of system status

Grade: B
Although the Housing Search Tool appeared front and center on the Neighborhood Services and Collaboration home page (a good thing), the only way to access it from other pages is via a Tools menu buried at the bottom of the page.  Also, once in the Housing Search Tool, the Tools menu selection is not highlighted.  Worse still, the Roommate Search Tool pages do not include the main navigation or bottom-of-the-page link options at all.

Match between system and the real world

Grade: B
The Undergraduate Student Government produces annual surveys of students regarding landlords, which are posted at a link titled "USG Renter's Guide;" this title does not make it obvious what this document has to offer.  Another (less serious) issue identified was that the photos of Columbus neighborhoods are not in the same order as the corresponding text, which is not a natural mapping.

User control and freedom

Grade: B

Most pages on the site offer the ability to escape via main navigation link options across the top, plus a set of options even higher on the page with choices such as osu.edu, BuckeyeLink, etc.  However, the background color of this section is a gray that's nearly identical to the gray used at the top of most browsers.  This design choice reflects an intent to make these options less salient than the main menu, but completely blending them into the browser goes too far.  On a different and more specific note, one potential error is inadvertent selection of the Clear Search option on the Roommate search function, but this can be corrected using the browser back button.  

Consistency and standards

Grade: B

As discussed in an earlier section, the pages with the search function do not include the main navigation link options.  More problematic is the Lease Signing option in the Roommate search function.  When submitting a profile, a student in need of housing is asked if he is willing to sign a lease.  A student who has housing and needs a roommate can specify if she will require the roommate to sign a lease.  The problem is if the student who has housing tries a search that specifies "no, the roommate is not required to sign a lease," the search returns only candidates who specified "no, I won't sign a lease."  That search should also return candidates who said "yes, I am willing to sign a lease."  The design tries to be consistent in its use of "yes" and "no", but the terms don't actually mean the same thing here because they apply to different conditions.

Error prevention

Grade: B

In the Roommate search function, the Search and Clear Search buttons are both equally large and bright red (well, scarlet since this is OSU).  This results in the Clear Search function being too salient, which makes it too easy to inadvertently select.

Recognition rather than recall

Grade: C
The grade above reflects one very serious knowledge in the head issue: the only way to geographically narrow a Housing Search is by entering a zip code, information that will almost certainly need to be looked up by anyone performing a housing search.  A better option would be a drop down listing housing areas (and a map illustrating those areas).

Flexibility and efficiency of use

Grade: B

Can't tailor use for repeated visits.  If students had the option to log in via BuckeyeLink (since this is an OSU site), then the system could be designed to save searches.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Grade: B
The aesthetic is OSU standard, but not unattractive.  Not a lot of excess information.  However, although the footer with address, phone, etc. at the bottom of every single page is a web standard (and a CIO requirement), it's too large for my taste.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

Grade: B
One very obvious potential error that is possible with the system: you can set the (rental) Price From value above the Price To value, which will never return any search results since it's impossible.  The system could be designed to not allow a user to make such selections, or to at least provide a specific error message informing the user of the problem.

Help and documentation

Grade: B

The Help function above the main navigation menu is the Help for entire osu.edu domain, which might be confusing.  Although a complete Help function might not be needed for this specific site, perhaps a Frequently Asked Questions would be appropriate.