Personalisation as a tool for improving usability of a higher educational website

Abstract

Efficient navigation and easy access to the contents make the Web a popular platform for disseminating information. Nevertheless, users of a website may have different interests towards the website contents. Thus, a standardised contents organization will not help smooth navigation and quick information access for different users. This research has reviewed the website of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FCSIT), University of Malaya and found the website faced the problem indeed. A prototype for the personalised FCSIT website is proposed. The website allows users to view information in categories identified based on functions carried out by different users. The position of the categories can be customised by the users themselves for their convenient access. In addition, quick information access can be defined for each user and arranged according to the user's preference. The evaluation results showed that personalisation features have enhanced usability and derived user satisfaction.