Usability Evaluation of canada.ca

By Nima Meghdadi, a Student of Computer Science at the University of Ottawa

Conducted usability testing and evaluation of Canada's government website, Canada.ca, employing the think-aloud technique. Proposed recommendations to enhance user experience and usability based on the evaluation findings. You can reach him at nmegh082@uottawa.ca

Introduction: This blog tells you how good canada.ca is for the people who use it, the official website of the Government of Canada that provides information and services to the public. It also offers some recommendations for improvement based on the findings.
The evaluation method employed for this website was the think-aloud technique, if you want to learn more about how this technique works, you can visit this website. But in this post, I will explain enough about this technique, which involves asking users to verbalize their thoughts and actions while performing tasks on the website. The users' screens were recorded and their feedback was collected to analyze the usability and user experience issues of canada.ca. If you want to learn more about this method, you can check out this website.
The website is supposed to help people learn about Canada's rules and do some information like taxes and immigration. But the website does not do a good job. People have a hard time finding what they need and doing what they want. People are not sure what to do next and they keep clicking on different things to see if they are useful or not.
People did not like the website because it had many problems. They could not tell what the website was for and how to use it. They also said that the website had too many words and not enough pictures, which made them feel bored and not want to stay. The website needs to be more clear, easy, and fun to keep people interested and happy.

1. The problem: The website made people mad when they tried to sign up. The page had too many ways (82) to sign up, and people could not find the best one for them. The website gave people too many choices that they did not need, and people often quit or messed up. Here in this picture I just show four of them.

here are just four of 82 sign up option

Recommendation: The website could make it easier for people to sign up. The page could have only one way to sign up and then let people choose their work later. Or it could have two ways for people from Canada and other countries. This would make signing up less confusing and harder.

The website has a problem that makes people unhappy. People have to make many accounts for different things, which is hard and takes a lot of time.

People can get used to this problem after they try a few times, but it is not a good thing.

Some people may think this problem is not a big deal, because some accounts are not used often or only once a year. But some accounts are used a lot. This problem makes it hard for people to remember which account they need for each thing.

2. The problem: The first page has too many words and no good groups. The website does not tell people what to do next, it just shows more words and sends people to another page. This makes people confused and angry. At the end, I said what things I used to test the website. If you have time, please try it yourself. You will feel unsure at every step.

some main categories

Recommendation: The website could make it easier for people to get a visa. The website could have a visa option that lets people pick the kind of visa they want. The website now has an immigration and citizenship option that makes it hard for people to find what they need.

This part of the website is good for some people and not for others. People who want to live in Canada may use this part a lot, but it may not matter for people who are already Canadian.

This part of the website is what the website is for, but it is not done well and it makes people confused. People have a hard time finding what they want and knowing how to get back to it.

The website does not help people find their way around. They often lose track of how they got to the thing they wanted.

3. The problem: The website has a thing that shows where you are, but it is not good and wrong. You cannot believe the thing to show where you went. If you want to see for yourself, you can click on this site and try to go back and forth. The thing that shows where you are on the website is called a breadcrumb bar and you can see it in the below picture. But if you click on the link, you cannot go back and forth based on the breadcrumb bar. The breadcrumb bar should show the steps you took on the website. And if you made a mistake, you should be able to go back with the breadcrumb bar.

here you can see the bar

Recommendation: The website could make the thing that shows where you are better. It should show where you went right. This would help you remember where you went and go back if you want.

People have this problem all the time on the website. This means that the problem was always there and everywhere. The problem made the whole website bad for the people and stopped them from doing what they wanted and needed.

4. The problem: The website had a search bar that let people look for what they wanted, and it should have given them good and helpful information. However the website's search bar often gave them bad and useless information, and they did not match what people wanted. This made people not able to do what they came for, as they spent a lot of time and work looking at search, and often did not find what they wanted. The people also felt unhappy and angry by the bad results, and they did not trust or believe the website. 

search bar

I searched for "import pet" here, but in the picture below, you can see the two best results for bringing a pet to Canada. But they are not good enough, because the website's search bar should show this link as the first result. This link has the most relevant and helpful information for people who want to import a pet.

search result of import pet

Recommendation: The website has a search bar that lets people see the information that other people look at a lot, which means they are good and helpful. This is a good thing that can help people find the best information on the website. But the website should also do other sort criteria to show the information and make it easy for people to find what they want. For example, the website could have groups, words, choices, stars, comments, or tips to sort and show information in a better and more personal way. The website could also use smart techniques to know what people want and mean and give them more right and helpful information. The website's search bar should show information in different ways, and not only by how many people look at them. The website could also let people make an account and change sorting techniques for what they like. This would let the website show information for the people based on what they like, want, and need. The website could use cookies, history, or questions to get and use the people's information and give them their own helpful information.

5. The problem: The website's colors did not make people happy, they thought they were boring and not fun. They said that the website should use more bright and different colors to make it more fun and nice. The website's look should show what it is and what it does, and make people want to see more. The people did not like the website's color behind everything, which was #fff (white). They said that this color was too shiny and hurt their eyes, making them feel bored and sleepy. The flag of Canada and the background color on this website are the same. It is hard to see the flag clearly. 

this is the main page

Recommendation: People said that the website should use a color that is not too bright and warm for the color behind everything, like light brown or yellow, to make it more cozy and friendly. The website's color should think about what the people like and how they see, and make the website easier to read and use.

The website should change and make things better, and make sure they are easy, simple, nice, and friendly. The website should also ask the people what they think, and use their ideas and likes to make it better. The website's goal should be to make a website that people like and are happy with, and that does what they want and need.

Method: Here I tell you what I did to test the website. Think-aloud is when evaluation takers show how they think when they read a text out loud. They say what they do to understand the text, like guessing, asking, summing up, or explaining. This way was tried on three people who were 23, 23, and 51 years old. All the people were given the same taskto do and asked to find the best way to do them. If they had any problems, the person who tested them gave them small tips. All the people knew about the website and what it was for. The website was tried by three people, two in person and one online. The people who were in person were given cards with tasksto do on the website, from easy to hard, to make them want to do them and see how they did. The person who was online was connected by Google Meet and got the tasks to do in the chat. Their screens were seen and saved by the person who tested them, who watched what they did and how they felt. The website trying ways were made to see how good the website was, how well it worked, and how happy the people were.

The people were asked to do five tasks on the website, about coming and working in Canada. The tasks were:

• Task 1: Ask for a visa to visit.

• Task 2: Find out how to get a permit to work after finishing school in Canada.

• Task 3: Sign up for a permit to work anywhere and go to the last step before sending the request.

• Task 4: Find out about the new rule about how many hours international students can work in Canada.

• Task 5: Find out how to bring a dog to Canada.

The tasks were made to test the website's words, ways, and tasks, and to see how happy and sure the people were. The tasks were also good and real for the people who wanted to study, work, or visit Canada. The website tried different times for each person, depending on how fast and right they were. But the average time of the trying was one hour. This shows that the website's tasks were not too easy or too hard, but rather hard and fun for the people. The trying time also shows how big and hard the website was, and how much the people wanted to know. The trying time should be seen as a way to see how good the website was and how happy the people were.
Conclusion: The website has many helpful recommendations, but they are hard to find. People get frustrated and use Google instead. The website does not explain well, and people do not know what to do next.

Acknowledgment: I am grateful to the Bing AI tool for improving the grammar of all my sentences. The tool helped me to write more clearly, correctly, and professionally.