You should spend some time watching folks use your site.
Sit down with a few friends new to this system, and silently watched them use it for two minutes. Get them to think aloud, and ask questions when they are silent to better understand what they are trying to do and what they expect. When they ask you how to do something, you ask them how they think they should do it.
I think you really need to see this for yourself. Users are often consistently blind. When you see 2 out of 3 folks struggling with the same thing, it needs to be changed.
-Is the first thing users want to see a search box?
-How quickly do users figure out how to use the system for something useful?
-How quickly do users figure out why loopy is better than sliced bread?
-Do users struggle to find a way to get rid of the welcome message?
-Are users able to progressively find the more complex features the more they use the system?
Sit down with a few friends new to this system, and silently watched them use it for two minutes. Get them to think aloud, and ask questions when they are silent to better understand what they are trying to do and what they expect. When they ask you how to do something, you ask them how they think they should do it.
I think you really need to see this for yourself. Users are often consistently blind. When you see 2 out of 3 folks struggling with the same thing, it needs to be changed.
-Is the first thing users want to see a search box? -How quickly do users figure out how to use the system for something useful? -How quickly do users figure out why loopy is better than sliced bread? -Do users struggle to find a way to get rid of the welcome message? -Are users able to progressively find the more complex features the more they use the system?