Purpose This study aims to investigate the usability of the website of a public university in Bangladesh based on students’, experts’ and authority’s opinions and provide guidelines for ensuring effective information retrieval from the website. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was used in this study. Quantitative data were collected from a convenience sample of 339 students of the target university using a questionnaire survey method. On the other hand, qualitative data were collected from four purposively selected website experts and a representative from the website authority using separate semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and qualitative data were analyzed based on thematic codes. Findings The findings revealed that students perceived the website as having a medium level of usability, which varied based on their age group and frequency of visiting the website. Interviews from the website experts revealed issues related to the website’s color, layout and load time, with several navigation challenges. Experts also found ambiguity on multiple pages, including a few technical problems and a lack of information on several key sections of the website. However, the authority’s representative urged that they meet user expectations on a modest level, with a focus on user-friendliness, timely content updates and technical monitoring using search engine optimization tools. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first attempt in Bangladesh to measure a university website’s usability, incorporating insights from multiple stakeholders. This study emphasizes the necessity of ongoing user feedback and iterative testing to guarantee that the website grows in response to user needs.
Md. Atikuzzaman (Mon,) studied this question.