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Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me:The Usability Challenge
NPR/PBS Interactive SummitFebruary 22, 2002
Lane Becker, Partner, Adaptive PathErik Dunham, Senior Web Designer, NPR
On the Web at http://adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprpbs/
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use 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?
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use 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/
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use 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
23 February 2002 Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 10
Let’s Test!
23 February 2002 Use 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?
23 February 2002 Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me: The Usability Challenge 12
How to Contact Us
• Lane Becker, [email protected]
• Erik Dunham, [email protected]
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/