CReATION: Hong Kong sites fail usability test as user frustrations run high

Poor usability is an enormous hindrance to Internet users' successfully completing transactions and most websites in Hong Kong have yet to build a strong brand online, a study has found. Research conduced by Icon Medialab, an Internet solutions provider, has found the leading usability problem Hong Kong Web users face is the slow download time of websites, with 56 per cent of users normally skipping the introductory splash page. Icon Medialab's human computer interactive director in Hong Kong Malcolm Otter said: "The results come as no surprise as local sites are generally designed with too many irrelevant graphics that inevitably mean minutes of waiting time, which users just don't have. But it's important to remember that it is not a case of having too many graphics, but more about them being relevant to the site." Icon Medialab assigned some basic tasks, such as booking flights or conducting banking transactions online to test usability. The results were a heavy blow to local sites - more than half of the users failed to complete transactions. "Hong Kong users hate it when you enter a site and before you can do anything, they ask you to register. Downloading is also a big problem. That will improve with broadband, but a lot of people get lost in sites. The advice is to design sites with the user in mind," Mr Otter said. Websites of corporate giants, such as IBM and Compaq, were not exempt to the rule. "No matter how large the site is, users should be able to find information quickly. They are impatient, and if they don't, they will go somewhere else," he added. Web users preferred localised content and sites. Most indicated they favoured Chinese websites because of the closeness of the information provided. They were also more likely to trust local companies, particularly in the finance sector, such as banks or brokerages. However, the majority of users that had been using the Internet for a longer period of time said they preferred visiting foreign or English-language websites, citing professionalism as the main reason. These experienced users also conducted more transactions and became increasingly demanding of a website in terms of navigation and structure. Users also said poor display and layout hindered searching on pages, with 42 per cent having difficulties with classification of information. Icon design and labelling should also be relevant to the market, according to Mr Otter, as users often find it hard to identify with logos or phrases, which are "not meaningful to them". He gave the example of a Taiwanese recruitment website, which had labelled a section on its site "Find soldiers by horses". "Now I doubt there are many people out there that would understand what exactly was under that (section). You only need to use simple, straightforward labelling. I'm not saying there is no room for creativity - that is always important - but it is also important for users to know what things mean. People are not forgiving - they remember." When it came to actually spending money online, only 10 per cent said they bought over the 'Net. "Removing and updating numbers of items being bought is hard. As there is no need to deal with input boxes, refresh and update buttons in their offline world experience, the online process seemed unnatural to users," the report said. Mr Otter added retail brands would have to offer a good deal, or something that was unavailable offline to attract online buyers. More than 400 Web users in Hong Kong participated in the studies. Similar research is to be conducted in other Asian countries.

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