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CHI2000 TutorialsAttended by DT Employees

> Successful Strategies for Selling Usability Into Organizations

> Design and Rapid Evaluation of Usable Web Sites

> Designing Speech User Interfaces

> Enabling Technology for Users with Special Needs

> Visual Perception for Data Visualization

> Styling the New Web: Usability with CSS

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Tutorial

Subject: Successful Strategies for Selling Usability into Organizations

Presenters: Rachel Carey, Serco Usability SvcsJeremy Lewison, The Hiser Group

Summary: Intermediate-level, one day tutorial covering the techniques and

arguments for convincing organizations of the value of usability.

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Objectives

> To understand where usability can make a difference within organizations.

> To identify barriers and opportunities which can hinder or support usability

initiatives.

> To communicate usability opportunities in terms understood by each target

audience.

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Why Is Usability Hard To Sell?

> Usability Evangelist / Blind Faith> “I can’t exactly explain it, you’ve just got to

believe! Trust me and you’ll see.”

> “Everybody wants to get to Heaven but nobody wants to die.”> “I want usability but it’s going to hurt/cost too

much to do.”

> Common Sense / We-do-that-anyway> “What you’re suggesting is obvious. Besides, we

do the same thing.”

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Develop a Usability Strategy

> Identify and support the organization’s business goals.

> Decide how business goals should influence design of products.

> Identify barriers and opportunities.> Create a usability culture that supports the design of

products that meet business goals.

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Learn/Know the Culture

> Business goals are not enough> Culture and politics:

> Barriers> Opportunities> Myths> Values

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Create a Communications Strategy

> Identify who to talk to.> Determine what messages are important to them.> Determine best communications vehicles to reach

them.> Use real, relevant data from the organization.> Remain flexible – modify strategy if necessary.

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Argue The Case For Usability

> Develop a business case.> Cost-justify usability - calculate cost-benefit ratio.> Collect company specific data.> Create a usability support plan.> Develop user requirements through UCD methods.> Make usability testing highlights visible.

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Leverage Allies and Opportunities

> Find the Quick Wins or “Low Hanging Fruit”.> Find Internal “Sponsors”.> Ask the Right Questions.> Create a Usability Culture.> Integrate User-Centered Design.

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Choose Effective Tools & Techniques

Usability activities can often double as communications vehicles, simply by involving members of the target audience.

– Usability Testing Sessions– Usability Advocates Groups– Collaborative Design Sessions– Training Workshops– Promotional Videos– Corporate Style Guide– Online Repository of Re-Usable UI Objects

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Do The Following:

> Link usability to business goals / values.

> Invite others (e.g., project managers, developers, customers) to observe usability studies.

> Make sure participants really are current end-users.

> Make usability studies visible.

> Benchmark products whenever possible.

> Present the right message / data to the right audience.

> Always think long term.

> Find out what motivates the organization and leverage it!

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Don’t Do The Following:

> Don’t plow ahead with standards too quickly

> Don’t pick a project that is not high profile to prove the value of usability

> Don’t spend a lot of money on a usability lab without first having the support

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Special Interest Group (SIG)

Subject: A “Bag of Tricks” for Web Usability

Presenters: Thomas Tullis, Eleri Dixon, and Harry HershFidelity Investments

Summary: Informal discussion of 6 small-scale usability evaluation techniques

Fidelity employs to conduct user testing of their web sites.

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Web Usability “Tricks”

> “Where Would You Click?”

> “What Do You Remember?”

> “Where Do You Look?”

> “Can You Guess What This Is?”

> “Where Would You Find…?”

> “What Did You Learn?”

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“Where Would You Click?”

Visual Search Task: • Participant is shown a static screen shot of a web page and is

asked to click on where they would start to perform a specific task. System records response time and accuracy (xy coordinate). Map of click errors produced.

Best for:• Evaluating alternative designs for a given page - typically a

home page• Learning how well visual layout and terminology work for the

userBenefits:

• Quick – user never goes beyond first screen• Only pictures of web pages – before development• Learn where people expect to click

Limitations: • Evaluate alternative designs for specific design only• Static screen shots only

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“What Do You Remember?”

Quick-Look Test: • Participant is shown screen for 5 seconds and is then asked

what they remembered about the screen. Accuracy is based upon main idea, secondary idea, and small details.

Best for:• Determining what stands out on a page• Determines if main concept is easily recognized

Benefits:• Quick• Only pictures of web pages

Limitations: • Nature of scoring very subjective• Bias of facilitator• No context provided

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“Where Do You Look?”

Eye-Tracking Test: • Participant wears head-tracking device while completing four

sub-tasks: Calibration, “What do you remember?”, “Where Would You Click?”, and task requiring scrolling and navigation. Scenarios given to create context. Map of eye tracking.

Best for:• Objectively determining where people look• Analyzing divergent strategies: Browsing vs. Reading

Benefits:• Compelling demonstration of effective vs. ineffective page

designLimitations:

• Intrusive• Equipment expensive• Time consuming to analyze data• Accuracy – calibration difficult

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“Can You Guess What This Is?”

“Greeking” technique: • Participant is shown hardcopy screen shot of ‘greeked’ web

page – random text not readable. Participant is asked to guess where various elements are on page by circling areas. Circles cannot overlap or contain other circles. Accuracy is recorded.

Best for:• Evaluating alternative template designs for site – standard

locations of various elements

Benefits:• Demonstrates user’s preconceptions of page layouts

Limitations: • Difficult to show scrolling page on printout• ‘Greeked’ text sometimes gives clues to its meaning• ‘Greeking’ text in graphics is time consuming

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“Where Would You Find…?”

“Bucket-Naming” Task: • Participant is given the names of links on a page and is asked

to identify under which link they would expect to find a particular item. Accuracy (% correct) is recorded.

Best for:• Evaluating terminology for links• Comparing alternative wording

Benefits:• Evaluates effectiveness of info organization• Demonstrates user’s preconceptions of site structure and

naming conventions• Can be done remotely via email

Limitations: • Should be done in conjunction with another ‘trick’ to fully

assess links

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“What Did You Learn?”

Comprehension Task: • 2 participants are given broad scenarios. They are asked to

brainstorm how they would go about completing a particular task and are then asked to complete the task on the computer.

Best for:• Determining how participants approach and navigate tasks• Evaluating if site is organized by company structure rather

than with customer focusBenefits:

• Gain insight into how users organize their thoughts about tasks• Allows users to frame task in their own way

Limitations: • People more likely to persevere in the lab• Qualitative results ? quantitative tests need to be done• Users have to ‘buy in’ to the scenario/task

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General Comments from Testing

When browsing web pages people:

• Start looking in center and then more left• Look at links first• Avoid non-linked content• Scan for key words• Ignore pictures / graphics that don’t seem to convey

information

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