Usability Testing

1. Usability Testing David Rashty

2. "I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way." • Franklin P. Adams (1881-1960)

3. Sounds familiar? • Not being able: • to find the information you are looking for. • to find a page you know is out there. • to return to a page you once visited. • to determine where you are. • to visualize where you have been and where you can go.

4. What is usability? • Usability is closely related to: • Ease of useeffective performance of tasks. • Efficiencyresources expended in relation to the accuracy of goals achieved. • Satisfactionthe comfort and acceptability of the interaction.

5. Usability testing • Usability testing is a methodology that employs potential users to evaluate the degree to which a website/software meets predefined usability criteria.

6. Usability testing – basic elements • Problem statement • Testing methods • Getting test users • Observation and testing • Output and results

7. Problem statement • Before conducting a testing one should clarify the purpose of the test since it will guide the rest of the testing procedures. • Important issues: • What do you want to achieve? • Are there any navigational and organizational problem areas within the site? • Is there any confusing terminology within the site?

8. Testing methods

9. Testing methods

10. Requirements: Provide test room Provide data analysis tools Have a supportive environment Provide portable tools Have space for group testing, focus groups and task analysis. Staff Usability engineer for administering the activities in the lab A psychologist and a computer specialist for analyzing the data from the experiments An example: usability labs

11. An example: usability labs The subject room must contain office furniture, video tape equipment, a microphone and a computer with appropriate software. The observer side must contain a powerful computer to collect the usability data and analyze it. A one-way mirror separates the rooms.

12. An example: heuristic evaluation • A technique for finding usability problems with a user interface. • A small number of trained evaluators separately evaluate a user interface by applying a set of broad directives that are relevant to the case in question. • They then combine their results and classify each problem according to its importance defining the solution process.

13. An example: heuristic evaluation • visibility of system status • match between the system and the real world • user control and freedom • consistency and standards • error prevention • recognition rather than recall • flexibility of use • minimalist design • help users diagnose and recover from errors • help and documentation • Jakob Nielsen identified 10 heuristics which are broadly helpful in spotting the vast majority of problems.

14. Getting test users • It is important to identify target users and then recruit them to participate in the usability test. • Research indicates that five to seven participants are enough to show trends.

15. Observation and testing • The test is divided into four phases: • Preparation • Test room is ready, computer in start state and written material available at hand. • User explanation • Purpose of the test, computer setup, test procedure. • Running the test • Test according to method choice. • User feedbacks • Satisfaction questionnaires

16. Output and results • A usability report should contain references to the following topics: • A statistical analysis on the usage of the different regions in a website; • A qualitative and quantitative comparison of different models for the main elements in the site; • Recommendations with respect to labeling, searching, organization and navigation tools.

17. Output and results • What does your organization do after receiving a usability report? • Implement changes • The implementation requires a concentrated effort in order to fix all usability problems. • The implementation may require further consultation with specialists in user interface design and information architecture in order to implement the proposed changes.

18. Usability testing: costs • Website usability review by Nielsen: $30,000 • Average cost of an advanced usability lab:$20,000 • Web-based usability testing: $20,000

19. Usability study: MOF case • The Israeli Ministry of Finance previous website had 5,000 pages, was updated daily and had more than 40,000 visitors monthly. • But… • 60% of users stayed less than a minute in the site. • Only 8% stayed more than 10 minutes.

20. Usability study: MOF case • The results of a thorough usability study show that: • Users spent 30% more time in the site. • The number of pages visited grew by 25%. • The number of users that left the site after visiting the home page get smaller by 50%. • Navigation and searching systems more intuitive and simple.

21. Conclusions • Usability is essential to survival. • Usability is the key technique for superior customer relationships. • Attention to usability increases the percentage of those who complete a purchase after visiting a website.

22. “Usability rules the Web. Simply stated, if the customer can’t find a product then he or shewill not buy it.” • “The Web is the ultimate customer-empowering environment. He or she who clicks the mouse gets to decide everything. It is so easy to go elsewhere; all the competitors in the world are but a mouseclick away." • Jakob Nielsen

23. References • Sites on usability • www.useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s website • www.usableweb.com: 793 links about web usability • www.usabilityfirst.com: A guide to usability resources • www.webword.com: Usability and human factors • www.usability.org: Usability and general resources • www.uie.com: User Interface Engineering • www.webpagesthatsuck.com: Good counter examples • www.vividence.com: Offers online testing • www.microsoft.com/Usability: Usability at Microsoft