IS1825 Multimedia Development for Internet ApplicationsLecture 07: Usability Testing

Rob Gleasure

R.Gleasure@ucc.iehttp://corvus2.ucc.ie/phd/rgleasure/index.html

IS1825

Today’s lecture Usability User Experience (UX) Testing

Usability

Usability has been broken down into several components

Learnability Usefulness (achieving goals) Satisfaction

Learning Achieving goals Satisfaction

Usability

Dense, dense topic…

Usability strategies can be roughly considered as targeting either Conceptual models

How can designers create a useful abstraction for users quickly and efficiently

Ergonomics How can designers control the physical demands of users

Usability

Conceptual-model approaches can be considered according to three main types Metaphor-based design

Aligning to conceptual models of existing real-world systems with which users have experience

Idiom-based design Aligning to conceptual models of systems of the same type

with which users have experience Context-based design

Aligning to conceptual models that users already possess of the design context

Learnability

Usability

These strategies help learnability by allowing users a head start in understanding a system

They help usefulness by allowing users to infer functionalities from this understanding

They help satisfaction by creating expectations that are more likely to be met

User Experience (UX)

In addition to this usage timeline, the field of user experience design (UX) has grown to capture important determinants of product design outside of this scope Product boxes, animations, imagery, screen transitions, etc.

Several companies have thrived in this space, e.g. Bang & Olufsen, Apple

UX has steadily increased in importance for two main reasons Mass consumer markets have grown for IT products and non-

specialists People use many systems because ‘they just like them’

1. If you want a great system you have to test

2. Testing one user is 100% better than testing none

3. Testing one user early in the project is better then testing 50 near the end

4. The importance of recruiting representative users is overrated

5. The point of testing is not to prove or disprove something, its to inform your judgement

6. Testing is an iterative process

7. Nothing beats a live audience reaction

Testing is essential if we want to improve our usability and UX

7 Usability Testing Truths (Krug 2006)

Usability Testing and Prototypes

Some testing will be done on the features of the work-in-progress system itself (tracer bullets), however other testing can be done with prototypes

Prototypes consist of anything from paper based representations to fully functional websites It allows stakeholders to interact with an envisioned product, gain

experience in using it and explore uses for it

Types of Prototyping Low-Fidelity Prototyping High-Fidelity Prototyping

Low-Fidelity Part 1

Low-Fidelity Part 2

Low-Fidelity Part 3

Types of Low-Fidelity Usability Prototypes

Storyboarding

Sketching

Prototyping with Index Cards

Advantages of Low-fidelity

They are simple to make

They are cheap

They can be quick to produce

They are also easy to modify quickly to incorporate changes on the fly and retest,

i.e. “Is this what you mean?”

Minimal resistance to change

Disadvantages

Limited error checking

Navigational limitations

Some users might find it difficult to conceptualise

Very little UX feedback

High-Fidelity Prototyping

Here materials that will be used in the final product are used

The prototype will be designed to resemble the final product as closely as possible

Advantages

Complete functionality, so people might understand it better

Fully interactive

Look and feel of the final product

Disadvantages

Difficult to develop

Time-consuming to create

Not effective for requirements gathering

Testing the complete lifecycle For learnability

Test the system with new users repeatedly – forgetting to reset with new users from time to time is very common and leads to test-users behaving more like developers than true representative users

For usability Try and form a hierarchical view of uses. The majority of features

never get used, so make sure the priority items are right before moving on

Testing the complete lifecycle For satisfaction

Use beta-tests to allow for more prolonged usage – this lets you gauge users’ response over long periods of time and in less artificial environments (e.g. white coat syndrome)

For UX Test the complete experience, not just the parts you think are

important, e.g. the unboxing, the help dialogue, etc. Ask people how they feel in a way that really captures emotions

and not just explanations

Issues with Testing

Client involvement is a tricky balancing act. You absolutely need their feedback, however too much feedback can cause a number of problems:

Schedule bottleneck - progress is stifled waiting for clients to provide feedback

Scope creep - the client keeps thinking of new requirements, the addition of which keeps adding massive delays. Alternatively they are not added, perhaps leaving the client feeling ignored…

Issues with Testing (continued)

Feedback fever - the client wants to make every decision, without necessarily understanding the technical repercussions

Conflicting feedback - “Jim from Marketing wanted to get involved in this project, so had a look over the complete site and wonders if it would be better as an iPhone app?”

Want to read more?

Norman, D. (2002). The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books Cooper, A. (2007). About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction

Design Krug, S. (2005). Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach

to Web Usability, New Riders