User experiences and a usability inspection of an electronic services environment for students

In 1997 the Information Technology Services section of the University of Southern Queensland introduced USQ-connect, an integrated graphical computing environment that allowed students to access electronic mail, USENET newsgroups and the Internet. The system was based on the Netscape suite of products and replaced similar text based UNIX utilities and software. As a consequence of the change, many students perceived that several vital services were lost and there was much debate about the imposed change. We examine the debate and conduct a simple usability inspection of the new service. Issues raised underpin the need for a user centred approach, and consideration of usability and Web design principles for the development of new systems.