The New York Times
Usability Test

Task 1: Find today's crossword

1. Opened left sidebar
2. Scrolled through the sections
3. Found games under "Living"

Time spent: 13 seconds

The user completed the task with relative ease, as she already had an idea of where to find the crossword games due to her familiarity with similar sites. The menu bars were helpful since they highlighted the different sections.

Task 2: Find the terms of service

1. Opened left sidebar
2. Scrolled through briefly, closed it
3. Clicked back button
4. Tried to scroll all the way down homepage
5. Gave up, scrolled back up
6. Clicked Account button, closed it
7. Opened left sidebar
8. Clicked “Tools and Services” header
9. Scrolled down
10. Found Terms and Services at the bottom

Time spent: 55 seconds

The user found this task frustrating and confusing. The more she scrolled down the homepage, the more articles it loaded for her instead of taking her to the bottom.

Recommendations: The New York Times could include a clear but nonintrusive button in the lower right corner that, when clicked, takes the user to the bottom of the website.

Task 3: Find the trending page

1. Thought the homepage might be trending page
2. Went to homepage by clicking logo
3. Couldn’t find search bar there
4. Opened left sidebar, found search bar
5. Searched “Trending”

Time spent: 30 seconds

The intended way to find the trending page is different. The trending button is buried in the left sidebar. It’s not intuitive in a way a user might expect it to be.

Recommendations: The trending button should be included on the navigational bar. Also, the search bar should be available at the top of every page.

Task 4: Find yesterday's paper

1. Opened left sidebar
2. Looked at “News” section
3. Saw (but didn’t click) “Today’s Paper”
4. Scrolled down, looked at “Listings and more” section
5. Scrolled up again, clicked “Today’s Paper”
6. Opened calendar at the top
7. Clicked “26th”

Time spent: 34 seconds

The user did not immediately recognize that clicking "Today's Paper" would lead her to a page in which she could change the date of the paper.

Recommendations: The New York Times could include a small but noticeable button or link in the shape of an arrow facing left from "Today's" Paper." This would easily allow the user to click through previous papers without having to use the calender function.

Task 5: Go back to the homepage

1. Clicked on NYT Logo at top of page

Time spent: 1 second

As per web design conventions, the large, noticeable logo leads to the homepage when clicked. The title of this webpage does the same. Try it out!