Chapter 4

Expert Reviews, Usability Testing, Surveys, and Continuing Assessment

Activity

 

Objectives:

  • Conducting remote usability testing
  • Understanding the process of usability testing
  • Learning how to plan a usability testing for specific products

 

Overview:

Planning usability evaluations

Understanding specific targets for these usability goals also helps plan usability evaluation. The testing techniques selected may vary, depending on which of the characteristics you are most interested in. Some can be tested with early prototypes or even paper mockups, but others require working software or very high fidelity prototypes.

Characteristic

Type of Usability Evaluation

Efficient

Time (or count clicks or page views) realistic tasks. Must use working versions of the software and plausible sample data.

Effective

Evaluate tasks for how accurately they were completed, and how often they produce errors.

Engaging

User satisfaction surveys or qualitative interviews can gauge user acceptance and attitudes towards the software.

Error Tolerant

Include task scenarios with potential problems in test use scenarios

Easy to Learn

Control how much instruction is given to test participants, or carefully recruit users with different levels of domain knowledge and experience.

In planning usability evaluations, be sure that the most important characteristics are included, and tested in a realistic way. For example, if efficiency is the most important characteristic.

Directions:

  • In groups of 2 or 3, complete the following activity. You can refer to your text if needed.
  • Write the steps down in order to share with the class during the discussion and for grading
  • We will discuss the results during the next class time

 

 

Activity:

 

  1. Look at the following website, created by a self-professed author. Conduct a usability test using the SnagIt software. Use the video and audio mode, and capture the whole screen. Perform the following tasks, while talking aloud.

 

http://www.zenvirus.com/index.html

 

  • Find the Blog for the site.
  • Find a poem about war.
  • Find the fiction about Acorns
  • How many clicks did take you to find the section entitled new stories?
  • Contact the webmaster (make believe)
  • Find the bibliography
  • Find the site map
  • Find the Japan Blog
  • Find a description about the author of the site
  • Did you encounter any errors or orphan pages?
  • What is the effect of the colors used?
  • Is the site consistent? What is the effect of navigation on the user?
  • What do you think of the organization? Text? Links?
  • Were you satisfied with this site?
  • Were you able to find what you needed easily?
  • What kind of changes do you propose?