Any resources on user interface testing? [closed]

Question

I'm not a user interface designer, but I test UI programs. Any pointers to things that user interface testers should know/consider when they test UI?

Answer 1

Check out this link - Usability testing don't guess test

Answer 2

If you want to automate the testing of user interfaces from a browser, then there's been some awesome progress with WebDriver (which interoperates now with Selenium 2.0).

Answer 3

Jakob Nielsen has a good overview of some concepts to consider when testing an interface. Without more specifics in your question though, this is about as well as I can help.

These are ten general principles for user interface design. They are called "heuristics" because they are more in the nature of rules of thumb than specific usability guidelines.specific usability guidelines.1

And a more detailed look at heuristic evaluations if that method is intriguing to you.

Answer 4

You didn't specify exactly what kind of testing you have in mind, but here are some resources:

• Userfly, see usabilitypost.com review

• Silverback

• Feedback Army, see usabilitypost.com review

Another option is hiring really affordable folks on Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk service.

Answer 5

If you want to evaluate against 'rules of thumb of generic interface design' then Neilsen's actual list of 'rules of thumb' (rather than his how to do it article) are here:

http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

However these are very 'high level' (ie lacking in detail).

Apple wrote the best book with the generic rules of thumb back in 1992. It's here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Macintosh-Human-Interface-Guidelines-ATL/dp/0201622165.

And you can read the contents page here (scroll on down). You'll see it covers most of Nielsen's list:

http://portalparts.acm.org/580000/573097/fm/frontmatter.pdf

Its quite a gold mine of useful information.

You can also buy it digitally here:

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=SERIES11430.573097

Apple still have 'Human Interface Guidelines' on their website - but they've reduced the amount of generic content (particularly the pschology background) - and made them more biased towards 'how to design the Apple' interface:

Answer 6

Rocket surgery, by Steve Krug.

Especially when getting real users involved.

Answer 7

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but here is a Heuristic Evalution checklist I've used before

http://stcsig.org/usability/topics/articles/he-checklist.html

Answer 8

I think ideally you should be validating against heuristics like below:

Simple = Colors & BG's, Page Weight, Page Design, Annoyances
Efficient = Productivity, Fields & Forms, Minimization of work, Readability
Intuitive = Labeling, language, and grammar, Designed for the audience, Controls
            Labeling, language, and grammar
Engaging = Comfort, Credibility and trust, Personalization & Customization, Collaboration,       
           Branding & Visual Design
Supportive = Visibility, Help and instructions, Error handling, Error display
Accessible = Perceivable, Operable, Understandable
Clear structure = Navigational controls, Navigation model, Information architecture