Archive: Joomla
June 01, 2009
Posted in Joomla by merav | 1 Comment
Tags: joomla templates
Morph is a new and revolutionary template from JoomlaJunkie.com. It’s the first template I’ve seen that includes a component!
I had the pleasure of meeting founder Chris Rault at the 2008 CMS Expo. He is a very bright guy with some fantastic ideas for Joomla, and he’s determined to change the way we see and use Joomla templates. Chris asked me to perform usability testing on Morph BETA and I was very excited to do so.
I didn’t read any of the template’s documentations because I wanted my experience to be “fresh.”
That led to one unpleasant surprise. In this limited beta version, [...] read more »
May 11, 2009
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
A few months ago, Scott from TheMediationMind.com has asked me to perform Usability Testing on his site, and back then I found some major problems and the look and feel wasn’t quite there yet. Since then the site has improved dramatically but there are still some tweaks that need to be made.
Here are the 3 tasks Scott has asked me to perform:
Sign up to trial and then login and listen to meditation
Get to sonia choquettes page and listen to an audio and make it to the signup page for one of her events
Search for law of attraction and attempt to [...] read more »
February 24, 2009
Posted in Joomla by merav | 6 Comments
Tags: jomsocial
I am a huge JomSocial fan. I use it all the time and enjoy almost every minute. But like any website and application JomSocial’s usability too has room for improvement. The mistakes aren’t huge but they are easily fixed.
There are empty fields on the profile page. Empty fields on the front end is neither attractive nor necessary. It’s best to show only the populated fields.
My links appear on other people’s profiles. If I am logged in and looking at someone’s profile, all my tabs appear at the top of the page. But it makes little sense to mix my stuff [...] read more »
November 22, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | 1 Comment
Tags: jomsocial
JomSocial is a new exciting Joomla extension. Up until now we had to work with Community Builder which is buggy, hard to use and can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to fix (trust me, I’ve done that). From first look at JomSocial, it appears that it’s a HUGE quantum leap from Community Builder, starting from how easy it is to use (without reading the manual!), to the way the profile looks on the front end.
It still has some minor bugs and even more minor usability issues, but over all it’s a great start!This is certainly one of the best [...] read more »
November 18, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
Alledia.com are the leading Joomla SEO experts. They have a great blog with a lot of content and offer some much-needed SEO services to the growing Joomla community. I am familiar with their site, but was still able to find some very major problems and point them in the right direction.
Steve Burge of Alledia.com took the test results very seriously and immediately fixed many of the problems. That’s exactly the right reaction to a usability test. The criticism isn’t personal; it’s intended to help fix the “low hanging fruits” and improve your site quickly.
Tasks:
Read and subscribe to the blog.
Buy SEO [...] read more »
October 20, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | 1 Comment
Tags: joomsuite
JoomSuite is a popular Joomla extension provider. The site has many products and a number of them are quite complex. Founder Sergey Romanov asked me to compete four tasks:
Tasks:
Obtain information about a product.
Find and read the FAQ of the product.
Purchase the product.
Download the product.
Watch the usability test video:
Video summary and suggestions:
The site’s overall look and feel is good: it has solid branding and a clean look.
The tagline is a bit hard to read and suggests that the products are only for businesses.
I would recommend having a native English speaker edit the entire site. Tighter language would make a better impression.
It’s [...] read more »
October 16, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
Tags: cmsexpo
The guys at CMSExpo.net organize professional events for Joomla (and other CMS systems next year). The organizers of these events, John and Linda Coonen, are professional Web designers so my expectations were high. They didn’t disappoint.
John asked me to perform three tasks.
Tasks:
1. Find the agenda.
2. Purchase a ticket to the CMS expo.
3. Learn about the sponsors.
Watch the usability test video:
Video summary and suggestions:
The site is beautiful and well organized.
The tag line is hard to read.
The text on the agenda is too small.
A call to action is missing at the end of session details.
A link to the speaker’s website is missing.
Some [...] read more »
October 16, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
Tags: CompassDesigns, joomla templates
CompassDesigns.net is a very popular Joomla blog, with great content and resources. I had seen the site before but hadn’t used it very much, so my first impressions were pretty accurate. The design of the site is beautiful and clean, which is expected from Barrie North, who is also a partner at JoomlaShack.com, the leading template providers for Joomla.
Barrie has asked me to perform two tasks.
Tasks:
Receive a free template.
Register and post a comment.
Watch the usability test video:
Video summary and suggestions:
Because the site is not a “.com,” it would be a good idea to show the “.net” at the end of [...] read more »
October 15, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
Tags: NinjaForge
NinjaForge is a popular extensions provider for Joomla. I had seen their site before, but had never purchased anything there nor was I very familiar with it. Their brand is well-known though, something that’s generally missing in the Joomla world. Founder Daniel Chapman asked me to test his site and perform the following tasks.
Tasks
Buy products.
Participate on the forum.
Get help/support
Video.
Watch the usability test video:
Video summary and suggestions:
I didn’t mention it on the video, but the tagline doesn’t represent what the site does very well. “Get on the cutting edge” is cute and clever, considering the name, but it’s also meaningless. [...] read more »
October 11, 2008
Posted in Joomla by merav | No Comments
I was asked by Azrul to test his site for usability. Azrul is one of my favorite Joomla developers and I appreciate his extensions. His design is top notch but does the site match the quality of his products?
Azrul asked me to complete four tasks:
Purchase JomComment.
Receive support.
Download a product.
Visit JomSocial website, Azrul’s new community extension for Joomla.
Some of the purchasing process has been cut from the video where it displayed credit card information.
Watch the usability test video:
Video summary and suggestions:
The home page design is too simple. It needs to be more exciting, with images placed next to the products.
The sole [...] read more »
"Merav's like our toughest customer - painfully honest, scrutinizing and won't pull any punches. She tells it like it is, because she understands the need for effective design and flow, and she hates inefficiency and ugliness. With her business background, she gets where we're coming from too - an uncommon quality in this business, and well worth the investment. Four stars. Merav's the real deal and can cut to the quick in minutes, with a "no-bull," solutions-first approach. Four stars." 
