VITAL 3 usability analysis: expert review

This report describes the findings of an expert review of the VITAL 3 software. Most of the public interfaces were explored, including the menus, searching, browsing, collections and the document view. The review covered only the end user areas of the site, and focused specifically on usability concerns, though at this stage the software is still in testing and there are some technical problems to be addressed. This report represents the expert opinion of its author and should in no way be interpreted as an exhaustive list of the usability problems in VITAL 3. Instead it should be used to advance the usability of VITAL 3 until such time as more comprehensive usability testing is undertaken. The usability analysis was performed using standard usability principles, however the report is structured not around these principles, but around the features of VITAL 3.