1. Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge NPR/PBS Interactive Summit February 22, 2002 Lane Becker, Partner, Adaptive Path Erik Dunham, Senior Web Designer, NPR On the Web at http://adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprpbs/

2. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 2 Do a User Test Now! We’re totally serious As soon as you get back from this conference, run a test on your existing Web site It’s really not as difficult as you might think

3. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 3 But I don’t have the resources! Doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming Rigorous testing improves data quality, but some data is almost always better than no data at all Your site will suffer if the people who use it don’t have a say in how it’s going to work

4. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 4 When can you use user testing? All the time! –During Initial design work –Between design iterations –To find out why your users complain so much –Before redesigning your Web site –For competitive analysis So how does it work, exactly?

5. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 5 First: Find Some Users Fastest, cheapest: your co-workers A little more time: family and friends More time, more money: in-house mailing or member lists Even more time and money: using a recruiting agency to get a widely distributed demographic audience in a variety of geographic locales

6. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 6 Some Recruiting Tips Narrow down your intended audience ahead of time Be specific about who you want Eliminate the obvious: competitors, market researchers, and, if testing a Web-based application, eliminate people who work in the Web/software/Internet/computer industry. Many of you will need to eliminate individuals who work in the broadcasting industry

7. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 7 We’ll show you how easy it can be Let’s do a user test right here, right now We’re going to test a news site: foxnews.com We want 3 people who read their news online: –User 1: A news junkie inside the beltway who reads foxnews.com –User 2: A news junkie outside the beltway who reads foxnews.com –User 3: A news junkie inside the beltway who doesn’t read foxnews.com For a more formal recruiting screener, see http://www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprprs/

8. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 8 Some Interviewing Tips Encourage your user to speak their thoughts aloud Give the participant exactly as much detail as they need to get the job done, and no more -- don’t lead! Don’t be afraid to follow the conversation in a direction other than the one that was originally intended

9. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 9 Some Observing Tips Imagine there’s a mirror in the room Pay careful attention to the feedback the participants give Look for patterns in an individual participant’s actions, and across multiple participants Don’t get too hung up on one particular phrase, comment, or problem that a single user has Be a “detached observer” — leave your opinions outside the observation room

10. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 10 Let’s Test!

11. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 11 Questions to Ask Yourselves Afterwards Was that an effective user test? What patterns arose, if any? What works on the site? What doesn’t work? How do we use the data we’ve just obtained?

12. 23 February 2002Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 12 How to Contact Us Lane Becker, lane@adaptivepath.com Erik Dunham, edunham@npr.org This presentation, as well as a generic version of a user testing screener and protocol, can be found online at: http://www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprpbs/