Test results for Swindon Borough Council
Welcome,
According to our records, this website hasn't had a major update since it was first registered with us - webteam members can update this information themselves.
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| Totals | Navigation | A-Z | Site search | Readability | Score | Tests | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total scores | 99 | 65 | 111 | 111 | 56 | 442 | ||
| Number of tests | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 76 | ||
| Usability Index (total score ÷ number of tests) | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
About the scores
Each task can be tested according to five different criteria - navigation from the home page, navigation using the A-Z directory (where present), searching on Google, searching using the site's internal search, and the readability of the page. Scores are assigned according to 10 = Very easy, 8 = Easy, 4 = Difficult, and 1 = Gave up. As more users complete any given test, the score for each aspect of each task becomes a mean average of all the individual testers scores, and thus the more tests are completed the more reliable an indication of the usability of the website can be seen. The total scores in the table are thus the sum of the averaged scores for the whole suite of tasks which have been tested.
The Usability Index is the sum of the scores of all the tests which have been carried out, divided by the number of tests which have been taken for this council, resulting in an index score between 1 and 10, with 6 being the score which a nominallly usable website with room for improvement might be expected to achieve. If any criteria have had fewer than 15 tests, or the site as a whole has had fewer than 50 individually tested items, the final Index scores are shown in a grey background to indicate insufficient testing for the result to be a reliable indicator.
The Importance column shows the mean average of how important all the testers considered the ability to complete this task to be, ranging from 0 = Unimportant to 5 = Very important.
Specific comments made about this council
Adult education courses - find information - 2024-10-16
'Adult community learning' is not the first phrase which comes to my mind when looking for adult education. Has this been user tested to establish if it is what Swindon residents are going to look for? After moving from the council website to the separate website it seemed to send me round in a loop when looking for courses. The favicon of somebody wearing a mortarboard hat is a bit cheesy. The separate site refers to free courses which appear to have eligibility criteria, but doesn't talk about courses you can pay for. The are fewer course categories on the actual site than are mentioned on the council site. Why does the council page mix up free courses with volunteering information?
Bulky waste or other special waste collection - book - 2024-10-15
There's a lot of text on the page before you get to the button link to the form. I didn't like the mandatory login to then start the booking form.
Council tip - find a nearby one - 2024-10-16
'Book a visit to HWRC' is jargon. The extensive advance reading necessary before you book seemed to be rather extensive - is it *really* necessary?
Economic condition and strategy for the area - find it - 2024-10-16
'Swindon's economy' page is just a puff piece dodgy infographic, there's no substance to the content or links to anywhere which might contain substance. I'm a serious inward investor, and I want to see how wisely the council is going to receive my investment. When I did find the .pdf download of the substantial document, I had to click multiple links to get to it, and there was no executive summary on the download page.
Leisure discount card - apply for one - 2024-10-15
Does this council have leisure cards?
Library book - renew - 2024-10-15
An A-Z entry for the main Libraries section would have made sense
Local history - find out about - 2024-10-16
I made the assumption of going to the Libraries section to find local history information. The way the local history department's opening hours were presented seemed odd to me.
Parking - find out how much it costs - 2024-10-16
On 16 October 2024 when this test was done it said parking charges will go up on 1 April 2024. The Directory is just an alphabetical list, there's no map search or nearest-to-this-postcode search.
Supplying the council - find out how - 2024-10-15
Whilst I assume all the text on the Tenders and Contract Opportunities page is necessary, I'm not sure if it was necessary all on one page like that.
Travellers - find information about them - 2024-10-16
It's a shame the page focuses on perpetuating the racist stereotype of Travellers as a problem to be dealt with and only as an aside references the Travellers' Site the council has a legal obligation to provide.
Voting - register to - 2024-10-16
There was a lot of text on the page which I think could be made much shorter whilst still conveying the essential meanings. It's possible the information about eligibility for EU citizens needs to be updated.