By Godwin Alemoh

What is usability testing Usability testing: is the process of carrying out experiments to find out specific information about a design. It is part three of the Usability Evaluation Toolbox.

 In usability testing, representative users work on typical tasks using the website or a prototype and the evaluators use the results to see how the user interface supports the users in doing their tasks.  The primary point of usability testing is to provide feedback during the design and development process to ensure that the web site will actually be easy and effective to use and provide valuable information to the users. In other words a one on one interviews with customers to explore their opinions about a site or site prototype.

Who should attend A usability testing session should be attended by:  Facilitator: the person who is guiding the user through the test, and taking notes.  Observer: someone else observing the test, often in a separate room.  Owner: the owner of the web site.  Web site development team: everyone involved with developing the web site � including the strategy group, designers, programmers, stakeholders, etc.  Usability: the extent to which the intended user can meet his or her goals using the system being tested.  User: person who uses the web site in a usability test.  You: the person most involved in organizing and facilitating the test. It is highly recommended to also have in attendance as observers:  At least 1 developer.  At least 1 business representative

Usability testing mistakes There are several common mistakes made by those conducting usability tests. Most of these, once identified, are easy to avoid. Mistakes are not confined to the beginner user: Satisfied in experienced test administrators often leads them to make similar mistakes.

Why is usability important On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival.  If a website is difficult to use, people leave.  If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave.  If users get lost on a website, they leave.  If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave. Note a pattern here?

Looks don’t always matter usability is the ability for website visitors to do what they want to do quickly and easily. Many web designers often spend more time making a site look pretty. People are not against good looking websites! But a clean design is not enough to make a good website. Let me use an illustration

What and why are you testing? Know what you hope to discover each time you test. With all tests you want to discover whether the user:  gets the point of the page  can guess where to find things.  understands the navigation system In a general test you want to know:  how do users interact with the web site you are testing?  what makes them feel distrustful or insecure?  what do they like and what do they hate?  what is difficult for people to do?  what makes sense to them?  where do they get lost?

 Must do user testing at some level and often to get result.

Seven mistakes testers make  Mistake #1: Do You Know Why You're Testing?  Mistake #2: Not Bringing the Team Together  Mistake #3: Not Recruiting the Right Participants  Mistake #4: Not Designing the Right Tasks  Mistake #5: Not identifying the Critical Tasks  Mistake #6: Not Planning How You'll distribute the Results  Mistake #7: Testing Too Much For Too Long

ROLES The roles involved in a usability test are as follows. Trainer  Provide training overview prior to usability testing Facilitator  Provides overview of study to participants  Defines usability and purpose of usability testing to participants  Assists in conduct of participant and observer debriefing sessions  Responds to participant's requests for assistance Data Logger  Records participant’s actions and comments Test Observers  Silent observer  Assists the data logger in identifying problems, concerns, coding bugs, and errors  Serve as note takers.

Problem Severity Classification  Severity 1 - High impact problems that often prevent a user from correctly completing a task  Severity 2 - Moderate to high frequency problems with moderate to low impact are typical of incomplete actions that the participant recognizes needs to be undone.  Severity 3 - low problems with moderate frequency: minor annoyance problems faced by a number of participants.  Severity 4 - Low impact problems faced by few participants