As part of week 1, we discussed a few ways a website could (and should) be acceptance tested. Prototypes of the website can be shown to users and the way they navigate through the site can be observed. However, there isn't a proper method out there (if there is one, it isn't being utilized) when existing sites are updated. I have seen many websites that go through a major change in their appearance/layout in order to make user experience easier. Also, companies don't often get their changes tested by all kinds of users - casual and regular. This often leads to negative feedback from users as they prefer to stick to the user interface that they're familiar with.
A very recent example of this is
digg.com. Digg recently released a new major version of its site. A lot of beneficial changes were made as part of the redesign. However, this redesign meant that a casual user, such as myself, will have to change the way he/she used the site. Matthew Shaer summarizes the good and bad points of the redesign as part of this
article. Furthermore, I also don't like the fact that I don't have the option of using the old layout. They decided to force the new layout onto users whether they like it or not.
What can be changed in the redesign process in order to avoid negative feedback such as this?
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