[LINK] re: eCensus web page design

[Tom Worthington]

I wrote Fri, 04 Aug 2006 09:26:30 +1000:
>The number arrived and so here are some comments on the process ...

More on the process:

* TEXT DOESN'T FIT IN BUTTONS: One button displays "PERSONS PRESEN". 
The text appears to have been truncated.

* DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXIT AND FINISH: At the "Household Form: Persons 
Present" I attempted to logout. The only relevant button visible on 
the screen was "FINISH". But this produced this error message:

"The following error has occurred in Question 2a:
As you have indicated in question 2a that no one is present in the 
household on Census Night, Tuesday 8 August 2006, you are not 
required to complete a Census form. Please advise the Census Inquiry 
Service, by calling 1300 651 181, who will notify the Census 
Collector in your area."

This error message appears erroneous, confusing the lack of an answer 
with the answer "none". Also the text of the message was in red. This 
makes the text difficult to read and gives the impression the user 
has done something very bad.

The correct button to push was "EXIT" however, that was off the 
bottom of the screen.

* CANT DELETE BLANK PERSON FIELD: Question 2b asked for a list of 
persons in the dwelling. After entering a name I pressed "Add 
Person", thinking this was to add the person. Instead this added 
another blank line for a second person. Attempting to proceed 
resulted in the error message:

"Question 2b:  The number of persons indicated in question 2a does 
not match the number of persons entered in the table at question 2b. 
Please amend your response to question 2a or enter additional persons 
in the table at question 2b."

Attempting to delete the blank line using "Delete persons" instead 
only gave the option to delete the person entered, not the blank 
line. Pressing "Back" removed the blank entry, but the average user 
is likely to be very confused by this point.

The screen then displayed "Status: Incomplete" in dark red and "The 
Census form has successfully auto-saved." in red. This is confusing 
as red was previously used for error messages. Neither of these 
messages should be in red and the messages should be far less prominent.

Due to the constant red messages the inexperienced user is likely to 
be agitated while filling in the form, thinking they are doing 
something wrong. The experienced user will have their confidence in 
the system (and the ABS) diminished by the continued erroneous and 
intrusive error messages.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Director, ACS Communications Tech Board   http://www.acs.org.au/ctb/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml