...
Participants found it confusing to have two search boxes in the home page. They also complained the boxes were too small. One user wasn't participant was not sure whether he could type in multiple words or only one. Another user didn't participant did not know he could type into the search box.
When the search results are presented they would like to know the kind of document (e.g. article, conference, thesis, etc.).
Recommendations:
- Remove the search box from the left bar in the home page and add the "Advanced Search" link to the one in the centre. In the rest of the pages show only the search box in the left bar.
- Add some hint text in the search boxes like "Type in some words to search".
- Make search boxes bigger.
Terminology
Participants didn't understand the meaning of some terms like: community, URL, URI, RSS, DSpace, etc. They comment they are too general.
The term community is not specific enough and it is not clear to me whether it refers to a subject, academic departments, etc.