Usability

How easily and effectively people can accomplish their goals using a product or system, while having a positive experience.

Usability refers to the measurement of how easily a user can accomplish their goals when using a service. This is usually measured through established research methodologies under the term “usability testing,” which includes success rates and customer satisfaction. Usability is one part of the larger user experience (UX) umbrella. While UX encompasses designing the overall experience of a product, usability focuses on the mechanics of making sure products work as well as possible for the user.

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA) and M-23-22

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA) and M-23-22

Resources on Usability

  • An introduction to content

    Best practices for creating clear, useful, digital content for federal websites and digital services.

  • Usability Testing with Steve Krug

    Get started making usability fixes to your website or product.

  • Department of Homeland Security: Usability Testing Kit

    A resource with four approaches to help federal employees perform usability testing.

  • 18F Methods

    A collection of tools that describe how teams can put human-centered design into practice.

  • Usability Starter Kit

    Here are some tools and templates to help you create better user experiences.

  • Fueleconomy.gov – Extended Case Study

    Like any valid business decision, User Experience work should produce results and demonstrable impact. To see a list of screenshots from websites we’ve improved, visit the rest of our Usability Case Studies. Or see a more complete case study below. Case Study: Fueleconomy.gov Mobile Site In December of 2012

  • Government Usability Case Studies

    This list of government usability case studies shows how government sites, mobile apps and other products become more effective, more coherent and more usable by focusing on the User Experience of their customers. Want to be featured here? Just email us. National Cancer Institute Persona

Join a Community of Practice

Usability events

Annual Gathering

Spring 2024 Community Summit

Digital service experts across the federal government will share case studies and best practices on delivering a digital-first public experience.
2024

Usability news

One year with the new USAGov

It has been a year since USA.gov and USAGov en Español were relaunched using human-centered design principles. Using task backlog, the USAGov team has addressed content gaps, improved discoverability, and implemented technical updates. Through usability tests, visitor comments, and click behavior the team was able to unravel and respond to user feedback and unmet needs, leading to noticeable increases in visitor satisfaction and task accomplishment. Moving forward, the focus will shift to enhancing public engagement with the government, improving the search for benefits-related content, and exploring interactive and personalized user experiences. — via USA.gov

USA.gov logo

May 14, 2024

Progress towards delivering a digital-first public experience

Each year, more than 400 million individuals, families, businesses, organizations, and local governments get information and services from about 430 federal agencies and sub-agencies. The Biden-Harris administration is driving a bold vision for how government agencies serve their customers digitally with OMB’s ten-year roadmap for a modern digital experience. Agencies have already made significant strides. Learn about recent successes by the IRS, CDC, NASA, and FEMA, and how OMB will continue to collaborate with agencies to ensure ongoing improvement in digital government services. — via The White House

The White House logo

Apr 17, 2024

18F at ten

We’re celebrating all the ways we continue to realize our founding vision: bringing technologists into government, launching shared digital services, and helping partner agencies build user-centered technology. — via 18F

18F logo

Mar 19, 2024

Search.gov year in review: 2023 report

Learn what types of information people searched for on federal websites in 2023, see emerging trends the team is exploring to improve customers’ search experience in 2024, and check out three new updates. The data tab provides insightful summaries for 13 popular topic areas—and lists the public’s top 25 search terms, in their own words, for each. — via Search.gov

Search.gov logo

Mar 15, 2024

Resources on Usability

  • An introduction to content

    Best practices for creating clear, useful, digital content for federal websites and digital services.

  • Usability Testing with Steve Krug

    Get started making usability fixes to your website or product.

  • Department of Homeland Security: Usability Testing Kit

    A resource with four approaches to help federal employees perform usability testing.

  • 18F Methods

    A collection of tools that describe how teams can put human-centered design into practice.

  • Usability Starter Kit

    Here are some tools and templates to help you create better user experiences.

  • Fueleconomy.gov – Extended Case Study

    Like any valid business decision, User Experience work should produce results and demonstrable impact. To see a list of screenshots from websites we’ve improved, visit the rest of our Usability Case Studies. Or see a more complete case study below. Case Study: Fueleconomy.gov Mobile Site In December of 2012

  • Government Usability Case Studies

    This list of government usability case studies shows how government sites, mobile apps and other products become more effective, more coherent and more usable by focusing on the User Experience of their customers. Want to be featured here? Just email us. National Cancer Institute Persona

More News and Events on Usability

135 posts

One year with the new USAGov

It has been a year since USA.gov and USAGov en Español were relaunched using human-centered design principles. Using task backlog, the USAGov team has addressed content gaps, improved discoverability, and implemented technical updates. Through usability tests, visitor comments, and click behavior the team was able to unravel and respond to user feedback and unmet needs, leading to noticeable increases in visitor satisfaction and task accomplishment. Moving forward, the focus will shift to enhancing public engagement with the government, improving the search for benefits-related content, and exploring interactive and personalized user experiences. — via USA.gov

USA.gov logo

May 14, 2024

Progress towards delivering a digital-first public experience

Each year, more than 400 million individuals, families, businesses, organizations, and local governments get information and services from about 430 federal agencies and sub-agencies. The Biden-Harris administration is driving a bold vision for how government agencies serve their customers digitally with OMB’s ten-year roadmap for a modern digital experience. Agencies have already made significant strides. Learn about recent successes by the IRS, CDC, NASA, and FEMA, and how OMB will continue to collaborate with agencies to ensure ongoing improvement in digital government services. — via The White House

The White House logo

Apr 17, 2024

18F at ten

We’re celebrating all the ways we continue to realize our founding vision: bringing technologists into government, launching shared digital services, and helping partner agencies build user-centered technology. — via 18F

18F logo

Mar 19, 2024

Search.gov year in review: 2023 report

Learn what types of information people searched for on federal websites in 2023, see emerging trends the team is exploring to improve customers’ search experience in 2024, and check out three new updates. The data tab provides insightful summaries for 13 popular topic areas—and lists the public’s top 25 search terms, in their own words, for each. — via Search.gov

Search.gov logo

Mar 15, 2024

Annual Gathering

Spring 2024 Community Summit

Digital service experts across the federal government will share case studies and best practices on delivering a digital-first public experience.
2024

Why the American People Deserve a Digital Government

OMB released new policy guidance for government that includes a variety of actions and standards to help federal agencies design, develop, and deliver modern websites and digital services. Memo M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience, will make it seamless for the public to obtain government information and services online, and help agencies fully implement the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (21st Century IDEA). — via The White House

The White House logo

Sep 22, 2023

Testing Beta for Accessibility

The USAGov team strives to ensure all our websites are accessible to as many people as possible. This includes those who need the use of specialized assistive technologies when browsing the internet. In building beta.USA.gov we deliberately validated that it met Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 compliance requirements. Our testing approach includes a three step hybrid method that may be suitable for other agency use. — via USA.gov

USA.gov logo

Mar 16, 2023