Health-Related Website Usability: A Preliminary Study

Abstract:

This ongoing research explores the usability of health-related websites in Malaysia. Three websites were evaluated based on various technological factors. Two evaluation methods were applied; using the web diagnostic tools and based on real user experiences. The results indicated that the usability of the websites are at the modest level. Most users are still having problems with believability and trust to share their information in the web. Furthermore , the websites have technical hitches such as containing various errors in its development, low level of popularity in all search engines and the most decisive verdict is one of the websites level of reading is considered difficult. By dint of, a good health-related website should be tested before being implemented in order to secure its quality and to ensure it meets the expectancy of the users. The study is important as it helps in providing important directions for the important usability factors influencing the success of a health-related website, which would potentially yield refinements in the current website.