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Usability Tip:
Test Early, Test Often
by Larisa Thomason,
Senior Web Analyst,
NetMechanic, Inc.
Usability testing is usually the last thing on a design team's mind during the stress of designing and launching a Web site. But it's a critical part of the process. We'll give you some tips to help you set up a basic usability testing program without losing your mind, your money, or your job.
The Great Myth Of Usability Testing
How do you know if visitors will find your site visually appealing, understand your navigation system, and be able to quickly find the information they're looking for? Well, you ask them and watch them use the site! Start during the design phase and keep going until the site is ready to launch. This process is called usability testing.
Many webmasters don't bother because they believe the great myth of usability testing. Here's how they think the process works:
- Hire experts to conduct demographic surveys to exactly match your expected audience.
- Pay the experts to conduct the testing using highly-paid expert testers who match that profile.
- The tests take place in a state-of-the-art testing lab equipped with everything from video equipment to eye-tracking monitors
The great myth says that usability testing takes forever, costs too much, and you always miss the site launch date.
Well, you can conduct usability testing that way
But you don't have to.
Budget Testing Made Simple
Let's discuss ways to get the testing done within time and budget constraints.
- Expert Advice: You may need an expert to do your heart surgery, but one isn't required for usability testing. Anyone with reasonable people skills and some knowledge about the site can conduct usability testing sessions.
- Testing Labs: If you have an office, two chairs, and a computer, you have a testing lab. You just need to hook up a video camera to record the session. Ask a friend or co-worker who recently had their first child. Chances are, the proud parents have one you can borrow. Just make sure you don't record over Junior's first burp or any other significant baby events.
- Usability Testers: Anybody with a little sense and a little Internet experience can give you valuable insights during a usability test. Select people who haven't seen the site before or heard about it. Call up previous co-workers, neighbors, friends, and relatives. If your site is oriented towards kids or teens, round up the neighborhood ruffians and ply them with video tokens.
Most people are happy to participate. They're flattered when you ask their opinion.
It is a nice gesture to pay each tester a stipend - especially if they're taking time off from work to help you out. Throw in a meal too if they come on their lunch hour. Like stray animals, people can often be lured with food.
You may have to fib a little during the test. Testers are less likely to be brutally honest if they know they're working with the site's designer. They won't want to hurt your feelings. But if they think someone else did the design work, they're more apt to tell you what they really think.
- Design Delays: Hmmmm… Let's think about this one. You conduct 2 rounds of usability testing with 4 people in each session. That's about 8 hours of testing and then time to look over the results.
The tests uncover serious problems with your site structure and navigation system. You fix them before confused visitors leave your site in droves.
It takes far less time and effort to change direction during design than it does to try to rip up a live site. You're going to have to fix the problems some time. Do it before the site launch!
- Time and Money Investment: You can do usability testing for about what it costs to host the site for a year with many Web hosting companies. If you can afford to post the site, you can afford to make sure that it works for visitors.
Really, you can't afford not to!
Testing Day!
Exactly how you conduct each testing session will depend on your site, its purpose, and orientation.
In general, you need to make the tester comfortable, give her a task to accomplish on the site, then stay out of the way and watch. Notice whether the tester seems comfortable with the instructions or gets confused and frustrated with the task.
Remember that a usability tester is much more motivated to complete the task at hand than a real user will be. So if the tester gets frustrated and gives up, your average Internet visitor would already have been long gone.
This article is just a brief introduction to usability testing. Want to know more? Some great, in-depth resources include:
- Usability articles by Jakob Neilsen at his UseIt.com Web site.
- Author and usability consultant Steve Krug's entertaining discussions of usability on his site: Sensible.com.
- ichita State University's online publication, UsabiltyNews.org, contains the results of many elaborate usability studies. Use their results to make informed design decisions about your own site.
While it would be nice to have each tester look at the site in a variety of browsers and operating systems, that usually isn't practical. You probably don't have the time or money to set up that elaborate of a testing program.
That's where NetMechanic's online tool Browser Photo can help! It will show you actual screen shots of your page in 16 different browsers, browser versions, and operating system combinations. It's like having a full testing lab without the expense.
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