36. Running a usability test
1) Choose tasks
2) Choose users
3) Perform the test
37. Running a test: Choosing tasks
Very specific
Representative of target uses
Most important parts of UI
Not too short, not too long
Start simple, end simple
38. 1) “Enter sales figures for six regions
for each of four quarters, with these
numbers.”
2) “Calculate totals and percentages of
the data.”
39. Running a test: Choosing users
Representative of target users
Must be novices
Optional: training
Don’t repeat on different designs
40. Running a test: Perform the test
“We’re testing the software. Not you.”
One experimenter
Refrain from interaction with user *
No personal opinions
You are a peer. Not an expert.
Optional: Video recording
Optional: Think-Aloud Technique
41. “Thinking aloud may be the single
most valuable usability engineering
method.”
42. Think-Aloud Technique
Reveals how users view and interpret
the UI
Users continuously think out loud
Wealth of qualitative data
Unnatural/difficult for users
Avoid rationalizations of thoughts
43. Good: “What are you thinking now?”
from Jakob Nielsen’s “Usability Engineering”
44. Bad: “What do you think the message
on the bottom of the screen means?”
from Jakob Nielsen’s “Usability Engineering”
46. Running a usability test
1) Choose tasks
2) Choose users
3) Perform the test
47. Kevin Schaefer
kjschaef@andrew.cmu.ed
Thank you. u
Gabi Marcu
Editor's Notes
Introduce myself + Gabi\n
Who has gone to the activities fair and signed up for a DLIST?\n\nFor the freshman, you go to activities fair and signup for 10 groups... then CMU sets in\n\nHavent been in this situation? You will be.\n
Who has gone to the activities fair and signed up for a DLIST?\n\nFor the freshman, you go to activities fair and signup for 10 groups... then CMU sets in\n\nHavent been in this situation? You will be.\n
Who has gone to the activities fair and signed up for a DLIST?\n\nFor the freshman, you go to activities fair and signup for 10 groups... then CMU sets in\n\nHavent been in this situation? You will be.\n
Who has gone to the activities fair and signed up for a DLIST?\n\nFor the freshman, you go to activities fair and signup for 10 groups... then CMU sets in\n\nHavent been in this situation? You will be.\n
Who has gone to the activities fair and signed up for a DLIST?\n\nFor the freshman, you go to activities fair and signup for 10 groups... then CMU sets in\n\nHavent been in this situation? You will be.\n
If people get lost, they’ll get frustrated.\nIf your website is hard to understand, they’ll leave.\nIf your app is confusing, they’ll delete it and give it 1 star.\n
Learnability: How easy is the system to learn?\nEfficiency: Expert users can reach high levels of productivity\nMemorability: Users can return to system without relearning\nErrors: Low error rate & easy recovery\nSatisfaction: Users should feel satisfied after using it\n
But... the talk is called usability *testing*\nWhy do we have to strategically test usability?\nWhy can’t we just build *usable* interfaces?\n(learnability, efficiency, memorability, error reduction, satisfaction)\n
It is impossible to design an optimal UI by giving it your best shot\nInfinite potential for making unexpected misinterpretations of UI\n^^ this is expected. Design with this expectation.\n\nEthernet example\n
CMU ethernet example\n\n
This is easy to miss. You have to test your designs.\n\n
This is easy to miss. You have to test your design.\nThis is obvious, but there are 5 things you wont see for every one you do\n
Design with this in mind. Expect to be surprised. Expect to iterate.\n
Another reason we have to test usability\n
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50% on you (arms length)\n80% in the room\n20% off\n
HCI Cliche\nA designer can look at any screen and believe it makes perfect sense\n
I promise the designer of CMU’s academic audit had no trouble figuring out what classes they need to take to graduate. For the rest of us, not so much.\n\n
Another example of why designers cant evaluate their own UIs.\nLearning a UI is a one way street\nFedEX logo\nWhat has been seen cannot be unseen\n
One more for fun. \n\nPoint is: Once you learn how to interact with a UI, you can’t “un learn it”\n
Alright, alright. Usability is important. We need to study it. So why not just ask people?\n\nPeople are incapable of describing their actions\nDescribe yourself at grocery store\n
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZR64EF3OpA\n\nyou don’t need to put the work into building the functionality until you are certain that it’s even needed\n
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Last task should be easy to leave users satisfied.\n
Last task should be easy to leave users satisfied.\n
Training: Give Kinect example\n
Contamination/crime scene comparison?\n*** unless clearly stuck and frustrated\n
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*** unless clearly stuck and frustrated\n\nInformal comment: I dont like this\n
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Learnability: How easy is the system to learn?\nEfficiency: Expert users can reach high levels of productivity\nMemorability: Users can return to system without relearning\nErrors: Low error rate & easy recovery\nSatisfaction: Users should feel satisfied after using it\n
