Testing for Usability
Testing your web site for usability will flush out many potential problems
before your web site is launched. Usability testing is essential for medium sized
and larger web sites. Smaller sites can also benefit from simple usability testing.
Jakob Nielsen, a well-respected authority on web design usability, recommends
usability studies consisting of five participants and conducted over multiple
portions of the project (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html).
Useful results can also be obtained by studies with only three or four participants.
It is more important to test over several stages of the web site design than to
have one large web design usability study. Here is a typical web site design
usability test schedule for a medium or large web site:
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Test Phase
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Number of Participants
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What is reviewed
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Time per participant
|
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Concept Phase
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3 to 5: large site
1 to 3: small or medium site
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Concept Images
(JPG or GIF) of the Web Site
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1 hr.
|
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End of Initial Design
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3 to 5: large or medium site
1 to 3: small site
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Page Templates, Basic Site Skeleton, Basic Content
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1 hr.
|
|
End of Re-design
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3 to 5: large or medium site
1 to 3: small site
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Working Site
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1 hr.
|
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You may optionally perform a usability test of competitor’s web sites at the
beginning of the design process in order to develop an understanding of what works
for your competitors and what does not.
Each participant in the study is observed separately with a facilitator nearby.
The facilitator’s job is act as both guide and observing during the process. It
is usually helpful to video tape the participants in order to study their reactions
later. The facilitator needs to pay careful attention to what attracts the participant’s
attention, how they navigate the web site, and what frustrates them about the
web site.
The Importance of Customer Feedback
No matter how carefully you plan your web site or how much insight you have
into the needs of your customers, there will also be room for improvement. Web
design usability is a continuous process. Customer feedback is invaluable for
improving your site. There are several ways you can provide customer feedback.
The simplest is a customer feedback e-mail pop-up box. A better method is a page
with a feedback. This has the advantage of being more structured. In addition,
have the opportunity of making your web site visitors more at ease by stating
your privacy policy. People are more likely to give you their feedback if they
know that you will not add their name to a mailing list or sell their name and
e-mail address to mass marketers (i.e. "spammers"). Other effective methods of
feedback include on-line polls and on-line questioners. If you use on-line polls
it is good web etiquette to let the participant see the results of the polls immediately.
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