Daniel Craig Broers | English

317 |

VIDEO CONFERENCING
U S A B I L I T Y T E S T F I N D I N G S C O M PA R I N G Z O O M A N D
G O O G L E H A NG O U T S

Introduction
This white paper describes the findings for a usability test that investigated Weebly
and Wix; two website
building/generating tools. These website building tools help generate websites for
personal/business/educational
reasons. Presenting information the way the user/consumer intends, with many
options to personalize, is the goal
of these sites. The usability test was generated and performed by myself, a typical
college student user, as a part
of course work in technical writing. I gained information in a cognitive walkthrough
which is a type of usability
inspection.

Methods
The usability test was performed on June 3, 2014 at my home, on my personal Dell
laptop. My internet browser
was Mozilla Firefox. I approached the test as a college student, which would be a user
of the sites. The user
possesses skills with word, adobe and internet browsing; but limited, if any
experience in creating a website. The
website created would be for business or personal use, and be two pages. In testing
Weebly and Wix, I used the
same criteria to evaluate the tasks accomplished in both. I used a Likert Scale to
present my findings, along with
detailed results. The following criteria (Likert items), used for the test, were graded
using a five level format.
1) Sign up/user login
2) Choosing a theme
3) Adding text
4) Adding a photo
5) Adding contact info
6) Adding a new page
7) Adding social icons
8) Mobile optimization
9) Ease of editing background
10) Access to support

Results
Likert Scale used for all tasks:
1=Strongly disagree 2=Disagree 3=Neither agree/
disagree
4=Agree 5=Strongly agree
Task one: Sign up/user login was easy to accomplish
Weebly- Likert Scale- 5 To initially sign up for the website, you simply create a user
name and
password. You are prompted to select the task desired, and then you are taken
directly to the
screen to create your site. The site can remember your password and there will be no
need to
log in for future access. I strongly agree that signing up for this website was easy.
Wix- Likert Scale - 4 To initially sign up for the website, you have to create a user
name and
password. After saving, you have to reenter the same information for clarification.
This doesnt

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take long, but it is another step. Wix also remembers your password, so there is no
need to log
in the future. Therefore it was not as easy as Weebly.
Task two: It is easy to add a theme
Weebly- Likert Scale- 5 Selecting a theme is the first task available once the site is
entered. The
theme options are popped up on the screen and there is a tool bar across the top that
has a drop
down menu for all styles and colors. When the cursor in on each option a choose,
orange pop
up appears, and you simply click on it and it is inserted. A choose your domain
window pops up,
then simply choose one. You will then have your site with the theme you have chosen
full screen
and ready to be personalized. The time it takes to complete this process depends
upon how
much searching the user does before deciding on a theme, but the actual
implementation takes
only a couple minutes.
Wix- Likert Scale- 5 Selecting a theme/template in wix is also the first task available
in order to
build your site. There are examples to choose from on the screen, as well at narrowed
search
options on the left side tool bar. For each option you can select view or edit. If you
choose only
to view it, there will be a link at the top Edit this site, which will take you directly to
the editor
so you can personalize it. Therefore you dont need to go back to select edit. Again
this only
takes a couple of minutes to accomplish, but user searching time will vary. The
viewing option is
a helpful one, in that you dont have to select one then change it; you can simply
browse the
different themes/templates before committing to one.
Task three: It is easy to add text
Weebly- Likert Scale- 4 To add text, you first select the text option from the left side
toolbar,
shown in figure 1, then click and drag it to the desired place. The add text box
appears, along
with a mini toolbar, to personalize the text to be entered. Once typed and highlighted
it will stay
that way while you make your choices: bold, underling, italic, etc. Then simply click
anywhere out
of the text box and it is automatically saved. This was an easy task with three steps,
but trouble
shooting how to get a text box took a
couple attempts, to see that you dont
select it. A message cloud would be
helpful to explain the click and drag
feature.
Wix- Likert Scale-4 Go into the third
option down on the left side tool bar.
Exploring the first two is necessary in
order to find it. This took a few extra

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minutes of searching before it was found

under the plus sign tab. Adding text is
found first once you open this tab, and
then you are given the option for a title or
paragraph. Clicking on either will allow
you type out what you want in the respective areas on the site. After completing
these steps, I
learned that you can simply click the area for desired placement, and a function
board pops up.
It is then easy to type personalized text using the mini pop up tool bar. Again this
didnt require
many steps and does not take long, but to have a prompt indicating the short cut
would have
made text entry quicker.
Figure 1-screen shot from Weebly.com

Task four: It is easy to add a photo

Weebly- Likert Scale- 5 Adding a photo was easy. Click and drag the gallery icon to
the desired
spot on the website. Once you click on it you can browse pictures from your
computer or search
for professional pictures or free ones. The selected picture in then inserted, and a
prompt to
crop if desired appears.
Wix- Likert Scale- 4 Select the add icon on the toolbar, and then select image. You
can select an
image with or without a frame, or clip art. Once you select image then you can select
from free
images, and crop it once it is added. This was a very easy task, but I did have to go
into the tool
bar. This one extra step is why I gave it a rating of 4.
Task five: It is easy to add contact info
Weebly- Likert Scale- 5 These is easy due to it being on the template, just select and
add text.
Wix- Likert Scale- 5 This task was the same a Weebly.
Task six: It is easy to add a second page
Weebly- Likert Scale- 5 to add a second page, you have to click the pages button the
top tool bar.
Then select what type of page it will be, and you can name it. By clicking and
dragging the name
of the page you can change the order. Then save and edit from the main site screen.
Wix- Likert Scale- 5 Adding a new page in wix is also very easy. First select the pages
option from
the left toolbar, then select add page (shown in figure 2), and a window containing a
list of
options opens with examples. Simply select one and it will be added. You can also
change the
order of the pages here by clicking and dragging them through the list.
Figure 2: screen shot from Wix.com

Task seven: It is easy to add social icons

Weebly-Likert Scale-5 This is very simple, click and drag from the left tool bar and it
is inserted
Wix- Likert Scale- 3 This took a few more steps in Wix. First, you have to click on the
add button

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on the tool bar, then scroll down the menu to icons, then click and drag to desired
placement, or
select it. It took a few more steps and minutes to figure out you dont have to go
back into the
menu to add each one.
Task eight: Mobile optimization is easy
Weebly- Likert Scale-5 This is very easy to do, simply select the mobile icon on the
toolbar, then
window opens up and you can select it for an apple or android picture. Interaction
with the
options is a click and drag format, making it easy to visualize what it will actually look
like on a
phone.
Wix- Likert Scale-5 This is the same as weebly only you just click on the phone and a
window for
editing pops up.
Task nine: It is easy to edit
Weebly- Likert Scale- 3 There are so many options for editing that were helpful, but
having
editing features on different task bars made it difficult to find them at times. If I
wanted to
change the background color, or move pages around, or change a picture, I had to
search for
them. This created a longer time frame for creating.
Wix- Likert Scale- 5 Editing was easier in wix, because everything was placed in 5
tabs on the left
tool bar. This made creating faster.
Task ten: It is easy to access support
Weebly- Likert Scale- 2 There was only a little question mark on the tool bar
indicating support.
From there you could choose the planner, which leads into a window that has a
question box,
links to specific areas, and tutorials to walk you through tasks. There is a little folder
at the
bottom you can select to contact support. This page was just overwhelming and
navigating,
extending answer time.
Wix- Likert Scale- 5 On the upper toolbar, there is a search window, and as you type
a question it
will list potential findings for your question. When you select the one you want it will
walk you
through the task, which is helpful. On the tool bar there is also a question mark icon
for a help
center.
NOTE from Karen: Writer needed to summarize the Likert Scores at the end of the
results.

Recommendations
In using the two websites to create a two page personal site, overall both were easy
to use.
There were some pros and cons to both which were mentioned in the previous
results. I would
recommend either site to inexperienced website creators. Both sites walk you
through the

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process of initiating a theme, and then have colorful tools and tabs that are easy to
navigate.
There were an abundance of options on both sites to personalize and develop a
website that is
unique. Weebly icons and toolbars are more complex, which takes more
troubleshooting, but
are useful. Wix display was very straight forward, and yielded a faster result.

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