On the CommunityCentral blog you’ll a find a sneak preview of the new homepage. The web-based platform is a friendly place for tangata whenua, the community and voluntary sector, public health workers, advocates and others in Aotearoa New Zealand to come online to converse, share and work together.

We’ve decided to let people see the design for the new web-based platform. After we made a demonstration to attendees at the NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisation’s AGM in mid-September, we realised it was time for a show and tell.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been doing a fairly intensive amount of usability testing. This has included a series of formal tests by AccEase who draw on a pool of people using screen readers and other assistive devices. I’m doing some more informal usability testing with a small group of typical users. And finally, the reference group we set up as been probing the e-newsletter function.

In developing the informal testing I’m doing I’ve drawn on some straight forward guidance that Rachael McAlpine wrote up a few years ago (see “Web site usability testing: recommended procedures“). I’ve followed Rachael’s advice before with good results.

A fairly large volume of usability feedback is being generated which all has to be analysed. This will be sorted into two lists: urgent; and nice to have but can wait. It’s not going to be possible to make the changes immediately as sometimes even simple things are both difficult and costly.

Of course, once we’re up and running we’ll be inviting visitors and members of CommunityCentral to post suggestions for improvements. Over time we plan to add features that will help further support people involved in community and voluntray organisation members.

If you’ve got any feedback on the sneak preview, post a comment.

PS We’re looking for a dynamic person who enjoys setting up systems, uploading content, and giving people really good support. Our ideal scenario is finding an intern or volunteer who will take on the role of webmaster and support person – for something like four or six months. Please get in touch if you’re interested or know someone who might be suitable (email Stephen Blyth).

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