Testing layout submissions

Key Usability

Contrast

Can you read the words easily? Are the colours outside this recommendation? That's worth mentioning.

Text sizing

Can you read the words? If the font is too small, can you size it up without words breaking out of their bounds or overlapping?

Layout fail

Is content overlapping? Are there blank areas that hold content in other browsers? Are there horizontal scrollbars?

Links

Can you click on the links? Can you tell what text are links? Can you tell what links you have visited?

Checklist

Journal, Post, Read & Network View Regions

Check the five regions in order, asking the key usability questions about each area.

Header

• Banner
• Title
• Subtitle

Main Navigation

Links to all views:

• Journal (user.dreamwidth.org)
• Single Post (user.dreamwidth.org/1234.html)
• Reading List (user.dreamwidth.org/read)
• Network (user.dreamwidth.org/network)
• Archive (user.dreamwidth.org/archive)
• Subjects (user.dreamwidth.org/2009/01)
• Tags (user.dreamwidth.org/tag)

Sidebars

Try the layout with one sidebar, two sidebars, and no sidebars. In each configuration, does content overlap? Do you get horizontal scrollbars? Can you click on the links?

(Probable content to look at:)

• title
• module
• links list
• page summary
• calendar table

Main Content

• subject
• date
• userpic
• post contents
• meta data:
  • mood
  • music
  • other
• actions:
  • memory entry
  • share entry
  • track entry
  • permalink
  • read # comments
  • post comment
• spacers

Can you post a comment? Turn on custom comment pages. In post view, can you read the comments easily? Can you understand who is making each comment, and where it fits in the thread? If there are lots of nested comments, does the layout break?

Footer

Normally there are some skip links here. There might also be some journal credits or journal actions, like a search or an RSS subscription button.

Archive View Regions

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Subjects View Regions

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Tags View Regions

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