In February 2012, the Geography Division of the U.S. Census Bureau requested usability testing of the TIGERweb Web site. Two versions of the TIGERweb Web site were examined by the usability lab: a live version accessible by anyone on the Internet and a beta version. Staff in the Census Bureau’s Human Factors and Usability Research Group and the Geography Division agreed on conducting 20 usability sessions, split evenly between novice and expert users. After the first few usability tests with novice users, it became apparent that the TIGERweb Web site was difficult to use and would need some major changes. Staff in the usability lab suggested splitting the 20 participants into two rounds of usability testing, allowing the developers to make changes to the Web site between usability rounds. Staff in Geography Division agreed to the suggestion. The second round was dropped.

In May and June 2012 , the usability lab of the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the first round of usability testing on the TIGERweb Web site developed by the Geography Division. This report provides the methodology, results, and recommendations for the first round of usability testing on TIGERweb.