Conducting Usability Studies at User Group Meetings  

In this day and age, getting closer to your user base is imperative for creating user-centric documentation. This paper discusses how the Technical Publications group at Mentor Graphics tapped into their annual User Group meeting (MUG) to conduct usability studies. We cover: Convincing management of the ROI of participating in the User Group meeting; establishing relationships with meeting organizers; defining proper "protocol" for interacting with users and other meeting attendees; planning for and dealing with equipment setup; recruiting users to the usability lab; considering and acquiring incentives for usability lab participants.

Yaspo, Catherine and Sarah E. Leritz-Higgins. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Usability>Testing>User Centered Design

Designing and Testing Customer Satisfaction Surveys on WWW Sites  

The types of surveys being conducted on the web fall into two categories: surveys that determine who is using the WWW and surveys that determine customer satisfaction with the product or service. To the survey guidelines described by GVU, we add five guidelines for designing web customer satisfaction surveys based on reviews of recent surveys and browsing the web: (1) Begin with a clear mission statement. (2) Classlfy current users of the site. (3) Report the results online. (4) Limit the length of the questionnaire to no more than 25 multiple-part questions. (5) Limit big graphics.

Feinberg, Susan G. and Peter Y. Johnson. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Usability>Testing>Web Design

Eight Guidelines for Usability Testing

Eight essential guidelines for usability testing, helping you to plan, run and analyse usability tests.

Fidgeon, Tim. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>Testing

Introduction to Eyetracking: Seeing Through Your Users' Eyes

Over the coming months, I'll use eyetracking to evaluate a lot of world-renowned user interfaces--including Web sites like Amazon.com, Google News, and eBay; Rich Internet Applications (RIAs); and desktop applications--and analyze quantitative eyetracking data to provide best practices for designing user interface elements like navigation systems, menus, and forms, and for effective ad placement.

Penzo, Matteo. UXmatters (2005). Design>Usability>Testing>Eye Tracking

The Myth of the Genius Designer

Having a good designer doesn't eliminate the need for a systematic usability process. Risk reduction and quality improvement both require user testing and other usability methods.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Testing

Reading to Decide: Designing for Usability with a Needs, Users, and Learnings (NUL) Analysis  

Information products that help users make decisions are a challenge to design, develop, and test for usability. We can begin to formulate a strategy for producing such documents effectively by doing a comprehensive preassessment of the specific project and by adapting testing methodologies from studies of creative thinking processes and expert system design.

Knodel, Elinor L. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>Usability>Methods>Testing

Usability Testing

Once a site has been developed (or partially developed), you can test it to ensure that it is usable and spot any potential problems.

Marshall, Samuel. Leaf Digital (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>Testing

Usability Testing  

There are two major considerations when conducting usability testing. The first is to ensure that the best possible method for testing is used. Generally, the best method is to conduct a test where representative participants interact with representative scenarios. The tester collects data on the participant's success, speed of performance, and satisfaction. The findings, including both quantitative data and qualitative observations information, are provided to designers in a test report. Using 'inspection evaluations,' in place of well-controlled usability tests, must be done with caution. Inspection methods, such as heuristic evaluations or expert reviews, tend to generate large numbers of potential usability 'problems' that never turn out to be actual usability problems.

Usability.gov (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>Testing

The User Advocate: Interactive Prototyping, Part 1: Easy PDF Prototyping

I've often observed that once wireframing begins, it's off to the races! In the rush to launch, we sometimes forget end-users. Is there a way to ensure that they get a voice during this always-hectic phase?

Rogers, David J. GotoMedia (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability>Testing

The User Advocate: Interactive Prototyping, Part 2: Building a PDF Prototype

This tutorial shows a very high-fidelity prototype—based upon the current gotomedia site—that might be created very late in the design process.

Rogers, David J. GotoMedia (2005). Design>User Centered Design>Usability>Testing

User Observation Tests: Forms and Procedures

Detailed explanation of how to conduct a web usability user observation test. Simple, step-by-step instructions for professional administration of testing program. How to select and supervise test subjects. How to design test task assignments. Suggested forms to use: test subject selection computer skills level telesurvey, link strategy survey, system usability scale questionnaire, site satisfaction survey.

Streight, Steven. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>Testing>Web Design

User Testing Techniques - A Reader-Friendliness Checklist

Periodic user testing is an important element in developing and maintaining a reader-friendly Website. But formal usability tests are expensive and time-consuming -- often prohibitively so. Happily, inspection-based user testing methods, ranging from a free-form site review to more structured approaches, provide a cost-effective means of assessing (and thus improving) the usability of almost any Website. One of the most effective forms of inspection-based user testing involves the use of a 'usability checklist.' Checklist-based user testing is extremely inexpensive to implement, and requires a surprisingly small number of testers to be effective. It's also easy to schedule; it can be used at virtually any time throughout the development cycle, from the earliest prototype screens to a full-blown Website.

Sullivan, Terry. All Things Web (1996). Design>Usability>Testing>Web Design

User Testing: Does Your Site Need It?

So you’ve spent a lot of time with your content - editing it for brevity - bulletizing key points. Your graphics are sharp and have small file sizes. Your server is fast. You've submitted your site to key search engines. But how are your site's structure, navigation and overall usability? Do you really know?

Osswald, Mike. Hanson (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability>Testing

Variability in User Performance

When doing website tasks, the slowest 25% of users take 2.4 times as long as the fastest 25% of users. This difference is much higher than for other types of computer use; only programming shows a greater disparity.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Testing

Usability Testing with User Proxies: When is "Close" Close Enough?

How can we designers get valid feedback from more design iterations in less time? One bottleneck in the design flow is finding a steady stream of usability testers. Between the extremes of the perfect (an actual user, on site) and the unacceptable (the developer who's coding the feature), lies the grey zone of user proxies. Can you use internal employees with relevant domain knowledge to usability test your products, and still get valid data?

Sy, Desirée. Designing the User Experience at Autodesk (2009). Articles>Graphic Design>Usability>Testing