By: Navneet Sidhu
Introduction
Usability is to measure the ease of use in
user centered interaction designs. In this article, I will discuss some of the major
usability issues that were uncovered by performing heuristic evaluation and think
aloud user testing on Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation . It is a government
website that is used for booking travel tickets which includes railways,
flights etc. It allows users to track their train, cancel their train ticket,
check the facilities available at the stations such as wheelchair, WiFi,
retiring rooms etc. It also allows the user to choose a complete holiday packages
including travel tickets, hotels, food. It is the most used website in India. IRCTC
was in top searched items in 2013 and 2014 ranked by Google India [3]. The
issues discovered are classified according to Nielson’s 1994
Heuristics [1]. Recommendations to resolve those issues have also been
suggested.
 |
| Figure 1: Home page of IRCTC |
Usability
Issues and Recommendations
1. Captcha Verification not visible
Issue: The login page contains unnecessary information, which hides away
the Captcha verification which is necessary for logging into the website as shown in Figure 2. While
trying to login into the website, the captcha can be easily missed, and the user
can go directly to Sign in button. The issue is due to failure of highlighting
important distinctions, distractions due to ads and confusing screen design.
Heuristics
Violated: This completely violates Heuristic #1
which clearly states that more important items should stand out more. The users
take longer to process more information and the catchy ads makes it harder to
find the functionality that the user needs [2].
 |
| Figure 2: Captcha verification doesn't stand out. |
Recommendations
The website should not be filled with
unnecessary information. The Captcha verification box should be bigger and
visible. It should stand out and shouldn’t be easily missed by the user.
2. Complex navigation and design
Issue:
There are lot of navigation bars that confuses the
user. Users can be easily confused whether they should choose destination and origin
from the top bar or from the left bar. Similar case is while choosing journey
class, user can be confused where they should choose from. The user is
obligated to interact with the system multiple times to check availability and
fare. The quota field (highlighted in the middle of the page on the right side in
Figure 3) is differentiated from the actual description of the trip. If user
needs to change the quota, they must navigate to different option bar.
Heuristics
violated: The complex design violates heuristics #1,
#8 as this is unnecessary repetition of information and leads to a complex
design.
 |
| Figure 3: Design too complex |
Recommendations
The designers could remove one of these options
and keep choices simple for the user. The quota field should be clubbed together
with the journey date, class, origin and destination.
3. Menu options not same throughout the website
Issue: The menu options are not same throughout
the different website pages. As shown in Figure 4 and 5, the options under
Trains in the Home page are multiple such as Book a ticket, train schedule etc.
but the same options can not be accessed from other pages. There is no way of
reaching the train ticket booking page from Figure 5. The issue was caused due
to inconsistency among the different parts of the website.
Heuristics
Violated: This violates
Heuristic #4 that requires the software to be consistent by putting the same
information at the same location and format throughout the system.
 |
| Figure 4: Multiple options under Trains |
 |
| Figure 5: Only few options under Trains |
Recommendations
The menu options must be same throughout
the website. The user should be able to navigate to all pages throughout the
website. The same options that are given on the home page needs to be added
throughout the website pages.
4. No captcha provided
Issue:
When trying to book a holiday package from Holidays
options given at the menu bar at the top of the home page, while entering the
details, it was found that there was no Captcha provided to enter in the
Captcha verification field. The Refresh button provided in the top right of the
Captcha verification window doesn’t work. No proper feedback was given for the
problem.
Heuristics
Violated: This violates Heuristic #5, #8, #9.
 |
| Figure 6: No Captcha provided |
Recommendations
The developer needs to investigate the code
for the Captcha. A different Captcha provider can be used. The code snippets need
to be placed in proper parts in the website.
5. Track your train option in the menu leads to Error
Issue:
‘Track your train’ option doesn’t perform any
function and leads to Error 404 Page not found (Figure 10). The option is a
dead link. There is no functionality assigned to the menu option. This is a bug
in the website.
Heuristics
Violated: This problem violates heuristic #5 that
states to prevent errors.
 |
| Figure 7: Track your train doesn't work |
 |
| Figure 8: Result of clicking on Track your Train option |
Recommendations
Functionality needs to be added to Track
your train button. The developer needs to write HTML code for this option.
6. Replan button doesn’t perform any function
Issue:
When trying to book a holiday package, you fill the
complete information, go to the payments page but decide to replan the trip,
you try clicking on Replan button as shown in Figure 9. The problem is that Replan button doesn’t
work and performs no functionality.
Heuristics
Violated: This violates heuristic #5 that states to
prevent errors.
 |
| Figure 9: Replan button has no function |
Recommendations
Replan button needs
to be assigned proper functionality. The code needs to be investigated and the
button should redirect it to proper page that allows the user to replan the
trip.
7. Help isn’t on the same location on every page (No consistency)
Issue:
Online help is not consistent among the website
pages. While booking a train ticket the help is displayed on
the bottom right as shown in the screenshot in Figure 10. While booking a holiday package the help is on the bottom left of the page as shown in Figure 11.
Heuristics
Violated: The heuristic that were violated were #4 as
the same information isn’t at the same location and format throughout the
system [2].
 |
| Figure 10: Chatbox is on the bottom right |
 |
| Figure 11: Chatbox is on bottom left |
Recommendations
This can be fixed by assigning a proper and
consistent position to the help section. It needs to be same throughout the
various pages of the website.
8. Help required? Ask DISHA. Pops up right on important information.
Issue:
The #AskDisha chat feature is very annoying as it
pops up at unwanted times and covers the cost and check availability action
buttons. Though the option to minimise the chat box is provided it doesn’t
perform its function very effectively. Even after minimising it, it pops up
after few seconds and gets unbearable.
Heuristics
violated: This violates Heuristic #1 and #8 as the
more important information (cost & availability) is being hidden by chat
box.
 |
| Figure 12: Chatbox covers the important information |
Recommendations
The minimize button needs to perform its
function properly and the chat box should not pop up after every 2-3 seconds. Either
the default location of the chat box needs to be changed or the Check
availability & fare column must be moved somewhere else on the screen.
Conclusion
Heuristic evaluation uncovered various
usability issues as reported above. This
is one of the most used websites in India. As per its usage this website should
be highly maintained and provide good usability. The website faces many issues
that needs immediate attention to provide good usability. By investigating
usability in depth and implementing user centric solutions, IRCTC developers
will be able to fix the issues that are of highest priority and make website
design even easier for users to use.
References
1. Nielson, J. (1994), Nielson Norman Group, ‘Nielson’s Heuristics 1994’, at https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
2. Lethbridge, Timothy. Heuristic evaluation and
Cognitive Walkthroughs at http://www.site.uottawa.ca/~tcl/csi5122/coursenotes
3. Arora, H. Google year in Search 2014 reveals top level
trends at https://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/google-year-in-search-2014-reveals-indias-top-trends-635354
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