I am designing a website called PokerStarters that is aimed at providing information and guidance to players of the classic card game poker. My target audience primarily includes beginners who are interested in learning the basics of poker, as well as casual players looking to improve their skills and knowledge. I came up with the idea for PokerStarters after experiencing the frustration of having to teach new players the rules of poker without a good resource and also realising that poker can be quite intimidating for newcomers, with its complex strategies, different variations, and specific terminology. I therefore wanted to create a friendly, informative platform where people could easily access the information they need to learn, play, and enjoy poker without feeling overwhelmed or discouraged. To achieve this my site will contain the following elements as web-pages: rules and basics, rules of various poker variants (like Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and Seven-Card Stud), strategies and tips, and a rules quiz. The site will also contain contact information and a contact form.
Here I’ll go through the Nelson Norman Usability Heuristics, a well known UI evaluation framework, and evaluate my design with the goal of it being minimal and intuitive.
- Visibility of System Status: The navigation bar at the top of the every page serves as a clear indicator of the position of the user on the site. The pages have also be named with the intention of providing clear and descriptive titles of the contents of each page. Furthermore, the contact form fields are highlighted when being edited providing the user with a clearer indication of the sites response to their action.
- Match between System and Real World: The language used on the site has been chosen to be as clear and concise as possible whilst also conveying adequate information. The buttons and fields where used have been chosen such that they appear inter actable and akin to their physical equivalents. They layout of many of the pages has been inspired by the instruction cards you may find in your favourite well explained board game.
- User Control and Freedom: The logo on the top right of the page allows the user to return to the landing page and the navigation provides direct access to pages, giving the user the freedom to browse the site. The quiz also contains a pop up asking the user to confirm they are ready to submit before they actually do.
- Consistency and Standards: The navigation menu has been kept in the same location on all pages and follows common convention in its design. A grid system has been used on most pages a provides readability and consistent spacing and alignment throughout the site.
- Error Prevention: The site validates emails and phone numbers added into the contacts page to ensure they are acceptable. The fields are also highlighted if a value is considered invalid. After pressing the submit button on the quiz the user will receive a pop up if a question has been left un answered allowing them the opportunity to add a answer to it.
- Recognition Rather than Recall: The labels on sections throughout the site are clear and concise. This will hopefully allow the user to identify the section they are looking for faster. The use of emojis in certain text bodies invites the user to engage with the text more.
- Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: The user can skip sections they already know using the navigation bar and taking advantage of clear section titles. Experienced users can also quickly navigate to the advanced strategies section by minimising irrelevant content on the page.
- Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: The layout of pages is broken up with images and text is containerised with relevant titles. The overall amount of text has been minimised and descriptions are as concise as possible.
- Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors: When a user has provided incorrect contact information the field that is invalid will be highlighted in red to identify to the user the error. They will then be able to promptly recover from the error and submit the form. Furthermore, after completing the quiz the user will receive their results and a percentage in a pop up.
- Help and Documentation: The glossary section allows the user to lookup poker specific jargon. The Youtube link will also be directed to an informative video to further explain the game.