Bohdana Muzyka “GUI and Usability Testing: Becoming User Advocate”
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The document discusses usability testing and the role of a user advocate. It defines graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and usability, explaining why they are important. A user advocate represents the user's point of view, ensuring their needs are met. The user advocate gets involved early, tests from the user perspective, and bridges development and users. Challenges for advocates include lack of user information and unaddressed user needs. Common GUI challenges for users are scrolling, drag and drop, window management, and more. The document outlines laws of user experience like clarity, preferred actions, context, and feedback to improve usability.
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Bohdana Muzyka “GUI and Usability Testing: Becoming User Advocate”
- 1. I Testing d Usability: coming User Advocate ana Muzyka September, 2016
- 2. AGENDA 1. What are GUI and Usability? 2. Why is it important? 3. Who is User Advocate? 4. QA and User Advocate 5. User Advocate Challenges 6. How to become User Advocate 7. Understand user’s behavior 8. User’s biggest GUI challenges 9. The laws of User Experience
- 3. A type of interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation. © Wikipedia What are GUI and Usability? Graphical User Interface (GUI) Usability The capability of the software to be understood, learned, used and attractive to the user when used under specified conditions (Ref: ISO 9126)
- 4. Increases the number of users Increases customer’s loyalty Gives competitive advantage Increases profit Why are GUI and Usability important? E-commerce Internal applications Increases employees productivity Reduces the number of mistakes and the amount of rework Increases profit
- 5. Who is User Advocate? A person who EMPATHIZE and SUPPORT and CARE about what users really need, REPRESENTING THEIR POINT OF VIEW: “Do I need this to solve my problem? Does this relieve my pain point?”
- 6. QA and User Advocate • Gets involved early in the development process • Asks questions (who, what, when, why and how) • Tests the product from the user’s perspective • Serves as a bridge between development team and users
- 7. How to become the User Advocate • Get to know the users • Analyze the user’s needs, abilities and limitations • Specify the user-system interaction • Make sure user needs are not forgotten
- 8. User Advocate Challenges • I have too little information • I know the user need, but don’t know how to implement it • I cant’ go to see my users • People do not take into account my opinion
- 9. User’s biggest GUI challenges 1.Scrolling (without a good reason) 2.Drag and Drop 3.Minimizing windows 4.Configuring features 5.Multi-tasking 6.Tab management 7.Locating files 8.Managing zoom on maps or sliders 9.Managing collapse and expand 10.Metaphors
- 10. Understand your user’s behavior • Average users do not explore • Users do not notice or use features • Users are not comfortable with interface elements that are too different • Users do not make interface design distinctions and are therefore "interface blind" ignore complex or multi-step tasks. • Users lack confidence with computers
- 11. User Experience (UX) involves a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service. © Wikipedia WHAT IS UX? User Experience (UX)
- 12. THE LAWS OF UX Law of clarity - The user will avoid interface elements without a clear meaning.1
- 13. THE LAWS OF UX Law of preferred action - The user will feel more comfortable when they understand what the preferred action is. 2
- 14. THE LAWS OF UX Law of context - The user expects to see interface controls close to the object he wants to control. 3
- 15. THE LAWS OF UX Law of defaults - The user will rarely change default settings.4 • Most people have a default background and ringtone on their phones. • Most people (including you) never change factory settings on their TV sets. • Most people will never change the default fridge temperature.
- 16. THE LAWS OF UX Law of guided action - The user will probably do something if he is asked to do it.5
- 17. THE LAWS OF UX Law of feedback - The user will feel more confident if you provide clear and constant feedback. 6
- 18. THE LAWS OF UX Law of easing - The user will be more inclined to perform a complex action if it’s broken down into smaller steps. 7
- 19. THANK YOU!
Editor's Notes
- To be on the same page. Start from GUI definition and then say about usability
- On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave.
- Too little information - Ask your Analyst, ask your Product Manager. Ask the one who ask you to build what you’re building right now. You’ll be surprised how much they open to answer Know the user need, can’t find the solution – Do the research. Look through the similar products. Ask the experts. Brainstorm. Prototype. I cant’ go to see my users – Test to someone who is outside your development team: another developer of the other desk side, another employee at your office. Stand your ground – Do not neglect other’s opinions, but find the way to get your message to the stakeholders (customer, PM or development team) if this solution is better for the end user
- Top 10 Shocking Things Users often Struggle With 1. Scrolling (without a good reason). Users won't scroll unless there is a reason to scroll. That does not mean "users don't scroll" it means they need to be compelled to scroll. One of the reasons the parallax layout works is that it uses huge visual squares to navigate- there are no other distractions- and pages auto-scroll and focus attention on 'one big square' at a time. 2. Drag and drop. For Mac users, drag and drop is more intuitive. PC users struggle with this basic interaction. Most Windows IT professionals take their daily 'drag file to folder and drop' behavior for granted. But even on the web, drag and drop can be problematic for users. That's why a lot of the fancy pants stuff you could do with AJAX as far back as 2006, you just don't see in practice these days. Goodbye iGoogle? 3. Minimizing Windows. Minimizing a window (Browser, Software) in Windows can be tricky. I've observerd many users who still are not sure what the difference between minimize and the semi-minimize or maximize icon is to the left of the red "X" in the top right area of a dialog or window. Yes, wow! 4. Configuring features. Configuration of any sort goes against the reality that we are creatures of habit. Do you configure your stuff? If yes, that's a learned behavior. For many users, the defaults will do fine thank you. 5. Multi-tasking. Handling many tasks, tabs, windows, documents all at once can slow users down and can overwhelm them. Websites or apps that require additional problem-solving or decision-making are in danger of "maxing out" a users ability to successful complete their goals. 6. Tab management. Browser tab management is not an easy skill for many users. I see this over and over, doesn't matter which browser. The idea that there's lots of stuff going on across different windows implies multi-tasking,not a skill humans do well. 7. Locating Files. The way our operating systems store files is based on how machines think: Heirarchical file management is challenging for us (parent-child relationships) because we do not store memory serially very well and we often process information in parallel with emotion. As a result, finding a file to attach to a web page, for example, can take time and effort. 8. Managing zoom on maps or sliders. Every map has one, but watch a user try to manipulate a map and it looks like someone learning to skateboard. The same goes for slider controls. 9. Managing collapse and expand. Collapse/expand is used everywhere. The little plus/minus is our new favorite way to hide and show stuff. Yet many users find it challening especially on web applications where their tasks are focused, and opening and collapsing information panels can get tricky. 10. Metaphors. Metaphors can be problematic because they don't translate well from the real world. But worse, many metaphors require a conceptual model to understand them. Things like "Message centers" (places a web application sends you alerts or mail) can be problematic because users think of 'messages' or 'alerts' differently. One of the great things about regular and persistent user testing is that it gives you a window into the world of your users (cognitive limitations). The more testing you do, the more empathy you will gain and ultimately the smarter the decisions you will make. I hope some of the above behaviors that users have trouble with surprise you, they should. Bottom line: Don't take for granted what users might find difficult and always be user testing!
- Average users do not explore Users do not notice or use features Users are not comfortable with interface elements that are too different (It's another reason NOT to invent UI elements that don't need to be re-invented, like scroll bars) Users do not make interface design distinctions and are therefore "interface blind" ignore complex or multi-step tasks. Anything that involves a lot of effort or discovery and utilizing helpful features tends to be ignored or skipped. Making things *seem* easy is as important as actually making them easy Users lack confidence with computers
- Are you using Gmail? I am. Before the latest update, Gmail had a very clear text navigation on top of the page — Calendar, Drive, Sheets and other Google services were readily available at the click of a button. Then Google decided to “simplify” and move everything behind an abstract icon. The result? Most people never noticed the icon and Gmail started to receive a flurry of support requests. People avoid and often ignore things they cannot understand — that’s basic human nature. Avoid designing interface elements that make people wonder what they do, because no one will bother finding out.
- Look at the Twitter screen above. Do you think new users understand what they’re supposed to do? Obviously, they should start tweeting. However, the “Compose new tweet” button in the top right corner isn’t very clear (see law of clarity) and the input box in the left sidebar pretty much blends with the environment. From a design standpoint, it seems like Twitter wants users to either search for something or use one of the options from the left hand navigation menu, as those interface elements are most prominent. Users should never wonder what to do next — the preferred action should be obvious.
- How do you edit your name on Facebook? You go to Settings in the top right corner, click Account settings, find Name, and click Edit. How do you do the same thing on LinkedIn? You click the pencil next to your name. Users will always expect to see interface elements in the context of object they want to control. This corresponds with real-life: when you want to pop some corn, you go to microwave and flip the switch on the device. It wouldn’t be very practical if your microwave instructed you to go down the stairs, open the basement, find the electricity box and pull the switch G-35 to start the popcorn program (which is similar to the Facebook’s name-change example). Keep things handy for users — if something can be edited, changed or otherwise controlled, place those controls right next to it.
- Are you familiar with the ringtone above? Of course you are — it was once the most popular ringtone on the planet. Why? It was the default ringtone and most people never changed it. We don’t notice defaults, but they rule our world. So make sure all default values are as useful and practical as possible — it’s safe to assume some people will never change them.
- There is a big difference between expecting users to do something on their own, and asking them specifically to do it. For example, when LinkedIn introduced Endorsements feature, it did not expect users to figure out how to use it. Instead, they created highly visible call-to-action banners which appeared right above profile pages. This, combined with the fact that people like giving endorsements, made this feature a huge success. The lesson: if you want users do to something, ask them without hesitation.
- This is simple logic — the more users feel your interface is communicating an action, the more confident they will feel. Gmail is a great example of good feedback. You will get a clear notification for every action you take, including Learn more and Undo links. This makes people feel in control and makes them confident to use the product again.
- Compare the form on the left to the one on the right. Both have similar number of fields, but the right is much easier to manage. We all hate filling out long, complicated forms because they seem boring, overwhelming and hard to double-check. But if you split the form into several steps and show a progress bar, things become pretty manageable. This is the law of easing — people will rather complete 10 small tasks than one giant task. Small tasks are not intimidating and give us a sense of accomplishment once we complete them.