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Error messages presented to users are one of the most important elements of Web forms. Error messages are embedded in different parts of the forms available on the Internet and presented in various formats. One of the measures of a user-friendly error message design is the ability to easily capture users' attention and facilitate fast error correction. In this empirical study, I tested four different locations of error messages frequently used in Web forms on 32 participants. In addition, I analysed the participants' interactions with error messages through their eye movements. The results of the study showed that the participants spotted the error message fastest when it was displayed on the right side of the erroneous input field. When error messages displayed further the input field users have less saccades to and fixations on error messages compared to those located near to this field, suggesting that less effort has been spent to understand the given message. However, group mean differences were not statistically significant for form completion time, error recognition time, the number of saccades, and error correction time.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usability of the National Library of Turkey website developed for all citizens in the country to retrieve information available in a wide range of areas. Design/methodology/approach - The evaluation performed by 57 undergraduate university students involved the identification and analysis of usability problems in the selected website. The assessment process was mainly based on Nielsen's Heuristics. The data obtained in the evaluation process were enriched using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to conduct a more detailed analysis. Findings - The participants identified many usability problems concerning the evaluated website and considered it as having low usability characteristics. The most violated heuristic item was found to be "consistency and standards" whereas the least violated heuristic item was "match between system and the real world." The total number of the usability problems in heuristic evaluation correlated significantly and negatively with the SUS and the NPS results indicating that the more participants identified usability problems, the less they considered the website as usable and recommendable. Research limitations/implications - The participants were not usability experts, however they were selected from among the students who received the Human Computer Interaction course to ensure that they had sufficient information and experience concerning the evaluation of a website with heuristics. Besides, the study was limited to a small number of university students. The implication is that results of this study have potential to guide libraries, which plan to adapt themselves to the digital world by delivering web services, by addressing critical points influencing users' points of views toward library websites and their usability evaluation result. Practical implications - Depending on the changes in user habits regarding the retrieval of information, libraries have made considerable investments in web technologies to meet their users' demands, and recently, digital libraries have begun to take over physical libraries. Users always need to perform tasks efficiently, effectively and satisfactorily when using websites. As one of the most crucial sources of digital materials, library websites are expected to have usable characteristics that satisfactorily meet user requirements. Therefore, the practical implication is that the findings of the study will guide designers, developers and practitioners in the development of library websites. Originality/value - In the context of usability evaluation of digital libraries, this is the first study to analyze effects of usability problems identified by users during the heuristic inspection on their overall evaluation score and willingness to recommend the website to their friends or colleagues.

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