I ran two users through a set of…

I ran two users through a set of “menus” scenarios this morning.

Check them out if you’d like: User 1 & User 2.

User #1

Step 1: Log in

No issues.

Step 2: Go to menus

No issues.

Step 3: Add a menu

  • She didn’t notice the new menu name field right away, and she found it odd that the name field is so far from the “create menu” button.

Step 4: Add pages to menu

  • She mentions that it’s weird that she has to scroll down to add a page to her menu, and there is a bunch of blank space under the menu management area on the right.
  • 3:18 – That’s odd. After she click stye “Add to menu” button and scrolls up, there is a zero under the menu link options.
  • She notes that it’s weird that after adding pages to her menu, she then has to scroll back up.

Step 5: Reorganize pages

No issues.

Step 6: Set as primary menu

She discovered the “Theme Locations” metaboxMetabox A post metabox is a draggable box shown on the post editing screen. Its purpose is to allow the user to select or enter information in addition to the main post content. This information should be related to the post in some way. alright, but found the title confusing.

Step 7: Add another menu

No issues.

Step 8: Add links

Again, the mystery zero shows up when adding a link

Step 9: Add custom menu widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.

No issues.

User #2

Step 1: Log in

No issues.

Step 2: Go to menus

No issues.

Step 3: Add a menu

1:30 – She clicked the “Create Menu” button without seeing the menu name field to the left.

Step 4: Add pages to menu

2:50 – Again the “0” shows up under the added pages and links.

Step 5: Reorganize pages

3:40 – She clicks “Save Menu” twice because she is unsure if her changes were actually saved.

Step 6: Set as primary menu

No issues.

Step 7: Add another menu

No issues.

Step 8: Add links

7:40 – She didn’t really get what the label was for. She added the name of the menu as the label thinking that would assign that link to the menu.

Step 9: Add custom menu widget

  • 10:15 – She gets lost by clicking on “Appearance” instead of “Widgets”.
  • 15:35 – …and she’s back on track.

My Observations/Thoughts

  • I purposefully left out widget related observations as I plan to do a round of widget testing next.
  • One thing that stands out is the blank state UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. (what users see before they add any menus). Our current blank slate UI is a tad confusing as the menu name field is a bit hard to see. The “Create Menu” button draws your eyes attention to the right. Both of the users first instinct was to click the “Create Menu” button first (before adding a menu name).
  • How can we make menus easier to preview? If a user saves a menu as their “primary menu” under “Theme Locations”, should we give them a link to preview their menu? Anything else we can to to make previewing menus easier?
  • The first user points out that having to scroll up and down the page to add pages (or any other link options) seems clunky. What can we do to reduce (if not eliminate) the need to scroll up and down so much?
  • BUG: Looks like a mystery 0 “zero” is added in the right column after adding links/pages (see 3:18 in the first video as an example).
  • “Theme locations” as a title seems a bit confusing. Can we come up with something a bit more descriptive? Perhaps “Menus within your theme”? It’s also rather confusing that this box is formatted the same as the link options below it (when the two perform completely different functions).
  • Can we find a way to expose the fact that menus can be used inside widgets? There is no indication that menus can be used outside of setting them in “Theme Locations” that I can see.
  • In the “Custom Links” box would “label” make more sense renamed as “Link text”?
  • When a user saves changes to a menu multiple times in a row, it’s hard to tell if the changes have actually been saved (as the yellow notification bar never fades away). Perhaps we could fade in notifications, so you at least have a visual indication that something has changed.

What are your thoughts/observations?