a method of analyzing an interface by the standard principles of usability. For questions regarding whether to conduct a usability study or how to best go about testing.
39
votes
7answers
2k views
How do you prevent scope creep in agile projects when usability testing?
I have a client who recently asked me about this problem. I was wondering how you'd handle it?
They are new to UX and to Agile methods, so they are struggling in interesting ways.
As part of a ...
22
votes
2answers
451 views
Defining “Instantaneous” as part of usability acceptance criteria
The Setup
I have run into this problem time and time again. An interface is performing slow and QA and/or Engineering come back and ask, "can you please define the acceptance criteria for how fast ...
9
votes
6answers
430 views
How to find out usability problems myself?
I'm a tester.
Currently when I see something that I don't like I suggest amending it and specify how. However I don't often see specific problems in application's usability and when I do I don't ...
6
votes
2answers
613 views
Conducting a competitive analysis
What are the questions you need to ask or the methods you perform when you're doing a competitive web site analysis from a UX perspective? How do you gather the facts? When in the project process do ...
3
votes
4answers
715 views
Why is embedded help not popular?
I'm wondering why modern help systems are more passive than active? For example, each good guide through something look like this:
So why we don't see this directly on website (service provider), ...
4
votes
3answers
717 views
How to A/B test a published IOS and Android app on actual users?
I've published several apps on IOS and Android adding flurry to measure the interaction that is happening in those apps, however, I'd love to enhance this interaction and make my apps more useful by ...
11
votes
5answers
498 views
When does statistical significance matter?
When does the statistical significance of a usability test matter?
I ask because in a recent Boagworld podcast, Steve Krug talks about how he recommends testing with only three users. When asked if ...
14
votes
2answers
541 views
5-second tests vs. the short-term memory
I've recently been participating in random tests on http://usabilityhub.com and I find myself cringing when the 5-second tests come up and feeling guilty at my seemingly useless responses once I'm ...
13
votes
13answers
251 views
Ideal number of candidates for user-testing
I'm creating a draft proposal for some user testing involving several quite basic wireframe prototypes. How many participants would people recommend for this type of exercise?
The intention would be ...
11
votes
5answers
276 views
Tips for A/B testing?
There seems to an increasing number of A/B testing services (such as Google Website Optimiser) and people using them. Have you got any tips on using and analysing the results from them?
6
votes
5answers
424 views
How do you know when an interface is complete?
Meaning that a usability test measures if an interface meets the goals it sets, but only test what is present. How do I know when an interface is complete? Meaning a test, or measure of completeness, ...
13
votes
5answers
349 views
What ways to conduct user research quickly and cheaply are there?
Let's face it, in today's world - everything is moving fast and with approaches like agile, UX gets squeezed. It doesn't have to be this way and from what I hear many companies are using Sprint 0 ...
6
votes
6answers
321 views
Finding out how users respond to look and feel
If you wanted to put designs in front of users and test how they feel about the visual designs look and feel. What questions could you ask to explore how users feel without being leading?
10
votes
4answers
329 views
How can we communicate that UX work can't be done by just anyone?
About 2 years ago, I asked about a good usability/UX elevator pitch, so I can quickly explain what UX is whenever I need.
But, to this date, I still can't get over one little issue: lots of people ...
9
votes
3answers
97 views
How to rescue a usability test whose participant is lacking confidence?
Last night, I was conducting a usability test with a participant who was very uncertain of his actions. Before the test, I said all of the usual stuff about it being a test of the software and not ...
8
votes
3answers
393 views
screen video capturing (usability test) on mobile
I'm trying to figure out how to conduct a usability test upon a handset device (smartphone).
it seems there aren't many methods for screen video capturing of a user making use of an app.
Do you know ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Formative and Summative Usability Testing
I bumped into this document and it suggests the use of (a) Formative and (b) Summative Usability Testing.
To be honest, is the first time that I bumped into this kind of terminology, and I while ...
4
votes
4answers
296 views
How many users must be tested when doing usability, and why?
Please provide empirical data.
Just to be clear, I will not accept Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, March 19, 2000: Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users without solid empirical data to back it up. I find ...
3
votes
2answers
454 views
Framework or plugin for tracking user actions on a web application
I've been working for a while on various proof-of-concept applications for social network privacy, which I've evaluated for publication with various user studies.
Is there a useful, free, framework ...
10
votes
4answers
306 views
Form Design: Mutually Exclusive Tabs vs. One Form
I am working on a form design that currently has two mutually exclusive forms accessible via tabs (Option 1). During usability testing my team noticed that users missed the tabs and only noticed them ...
9
votes
3answers
329 views
Recording Debit/Credit Card Details at the start of a 'Free Trial'?
Does anyone have experience, analytics or similar on the impact of taking payment details at the start of a free trial period for a product?
It's one of the things I hate the most about trialing ...
7
votes
9answers
293 views
What are the pros and cons of getting design recommendations from usability test participants?
I'm looking over a usability report, and one thing is jumping out at me: at the end of each section in which an identified usability issue was discussed, is a section entitled "Recommendations."
...
5
votes
2answers
260 views
Has anyone got experience of Feng GUI and been able to test it against real users?
One of my team is looking at using Feng GUI http://www.feng-gui.com/. Does anyone have experience of it and/or been able to test it against results of eye-tracking of real users?
3
votes
3answers
406 views
Does gender affect the results of a usability test?
There's a question on Quora asking for opinions about subjects' gender impact on usability tests. I think this topic is very interesting given that people of different genders prefer different visual ...
2
votes
6answers
206 views
User Testing and other best/most effective ways to implement UX in webpage.
Just wondering what some effective ways to determine and implement user experience would be. I think that user testing is a very effective one, i.e. getting complete noobs to the system using and ...
