Chapter 9: Usability testing on 10 cents a day

WHY USERS LIKE MINDLESS CHOICESKEEPING TESTING SIMPLE -- SO YOU DO ENOUGH OF IT

Introduction

Usability is too often done:
- too little
- too late
- for all the wrong reasons

Focus Group
- groups of 5-8
- react to what is shown
- opinions
- feelings
- good for determing audience wants, needs, and likes -- in the abstract
- should be done BEFORE designing the website
- ARE NOT USABILITY TESTING
Usability Test
- one person at a time
- asked to:
  1. figure it out
  2. complete a typical task

If you want a great site, you've got to test
- Your view of your website becomes biased very quickly. You know too much.
- Testing is like having friends visit from out of town.
Testing one user is 100% better than testing none.
Testing one user early in the project is better than testing 50 near the end.
The importance of recruiting representative users is overrated.
The point of testing is not to prove or disprove something. It's to inform your judgement.
Testing is an iterative process (make, test, fix, test, fix, test, ... )
Nothing beats a live audience reaction.

You don't need someone from your target audience
The prime person to test is anybody who knows internet basics
Reasons to grade on the curve:
- We're all beginners under the skin.
- It's usually not a good idea to design a site so that only your target audience can use it.
- Experts are rarely insulted by something that is clear enough for beginners
Exceptions:
- If your site is going to be used almost exclusively by one type of user and it's no harder to recruit from that group
- If your audience is split between clearly defined groups with very divergent interests and needs
- If your site requires specific domain knowledge
When recruiting:
- Offer a reasonable incentive
- Keep the invitation simple
- Avoid discussing the site (or the organization behind the site) beforehand
- Don't be embarrassed to ask friends or neighbors