#14381
Assessing Web site usability can be complex, because the medium can be both a document and a 'software product.' Documentation usability testing asks how headings, page elements, and index entries help users find the content they need, and whether that content is useful. Software usability testing asks how well the user inteface supports users’ job-task activity, indicates functionality, provides navigation signposts and program status, and prevents errors. A Web site must meet a combination of these goals—links should lead to the content that users seek, through pathways that users can easily follow without reaching a dead-end or getting lost.
Hinderer, Deborah and Laurie Kantner. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Usability>Web Design
#15005
Challenges in Participant Recruiting for Usability Testing 
Effective participant recruiting is crucial to collecting reliable data during usability testing of high-tech products and services. Not only should test participants reflect the characteristics of the targeted users of the product or service, but they also must be likely to use it. Only then will their experiences and opinions yield reliable data for identifying meaningful improvements. This paper presents real-world challenges in recruiting participants for usability testing of new-technology products and services for which no firmly established customer base exists. It discusses techniques for meeting recruiting challenges, before and after test sessions begin, based on Tec-Ed usability-test case studies.
Hinderer, Deborah. Tec-Ed, Inc. (1997). Articles>Usability
