Keeping an eye on 'usability' - University hosts event highlighting efforts to make Web sites, products functional

The effort to stamp out poor Web page design has to start somewhere. At the University of Minnesota, it often starts at a place called the Usability Services office.

During a demonstration Tuesday of the office's eye-tracking technology, U consultant David Rosen searched ESPN.com for a score from a recent National Hockey League game. As Rosen eyed the site and clicked through various pages to find the score, a blue dot showed where his eyes were looking on the screen. A nearby camera detects light reflecting from users' eyes to tell where they are looking on the screen.

He eventually found the score, though he called the site's design "really busy."

The concept of usability in the world of engineering is much broader than Web page design. On Tuesday, the U hosted a daylong event to recognize "World Usability Day." The program included demonstrations of Web page review, a panel discussion, and presentations on efforts to make various products divinely functional.

At its essence, the usability movement aims for any product to be used "easily and intuitively" by intended users. And it's best if users don't come away feeling that they had to think too hard about it. Medtronic Inc., 3M Co. and U.S. Bank were to have exhibits at the event at the Walter Library on the Minneapolis campus.

"It's usually not strictly about computers," said Alice de la Cova, manager of Usability Services at the U. "But with the advent of technology, we seek out more information on the Web."

Much of the lab's work is conducted for the U's academic departments as they try to design and improve Web pages.

For Fridley-based Medtronic, usability means a new set of symbols that appears on packaging for its pacemakers and other medical devices. No matter what language a physician speaks, the symbols on the sterile packaging convey critical information in an operating room.

Medtronic spent three years developing the new symbol vocabulary.

"There's quite a bit of work that went into this and quite a bit of validation with customers," said Suzanne Currie, principal human factors specialist with Medtronic. Five Medtronic employees were to present the new system to conference attendees Tuesday evening.

Professor Joe Konstan, a specialist in human-computer interaction at the U, also has worked to make Web sites more usable.

One of his projects is found at movielens.umn.edu/login. After visitors type in the name of a movie they like, the site recommends other movies based on the opinions of thousands of previous visitors.

"We've done a lot of research looking at how people contribute in online communities," Konstan said. His other projects include public health and how to get honest answers from people in online surveys.

The site is "usable" but is still growing traffic, with about 3,000 people visiting each month, he said.

"People hear about it through online word-of-mouth," Konstan said. "It will never be up there with the top sites online. But it's enough for us to do research."