Almost from the beginning, the Web promised cost savings in the time-honored way: labor automation. A recent study by usability authorities at the Nielson Norman Group and summarized on Jakob Nielson’s site under “Design Quality” shows how we all can do more to collect on that promise.

The study examined state Web sites, but the results are broadly applicable. Commissioned by the Pew Center on the States, Being Online is Not Enough: State Elections Web Sites asked whether governments were realizing the most basic of returns on investments in usability: less time on the phone answering questions.

Experts suggest that calls to state or county elections offices can cost between $10 and $100 each, depending on the staffer’s qualifications.

To score elections sites’ usability, the consultants used seven criteria. The specifics described below reflect the purpose of the Pew study, but the broad criteria apply to just about any site, whether in the public, private, or nonprofit sector.

Web Presence: How easily can users find the official state elections Web site when conducting standard Web searches for key phrases related to voting?

Navigation and Information Architecture: Is it easy to navigate to key topics? Can users easily tell where they are within the site if accessing a deep link [to a page other than the homepage] from a search engine? Are links named intuitively? Is the site organized in a user-centered manner?

Content: Is the content understandable to users? Is it easy to scan and find the right information? Is information made available in HTML versus PDFs?

Homepage: Is the homepage organized such that users can tell which information is intended for them? Are important links placed and presented so they will be noticed? Is the homepage easy to scan?

Accessibility: Can users with disabilities (severe or mild) utilize the site effectively?

Search: Is there an open search field available on each page of the site? Do search results seem appropriate? Are result titles/content understandable?

Site Tools: Are tools for looking up registration, finding a poll location, etc. intuitive and efficient?

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