1. What is “usability testing”?
"Usability testing" can also be called "user experience testing". It is designed to test tasks through product functions, allowing users to complete some real tests according to the tasks to test the usability of the product, which serves as an important reference for subsequent improvement and improvement of the product.
2. Why usability testing is necessary
1. There are following questions
After we develop new product functions or create new product features, we always have questions like this:
a. Is the latest version better than the previous version?
b. Is our website as easy to use as our competitors’ websites?
c. Can users complete the work they want to complete according to the process we designed?
d. Have our designers designed the layout according to the user’s operating habits and product characteristics?
2. There may be reasons
a. Every website has usability issues
In the process of using a website, we often encounter usability problems, and some problems are often serious and prevent users from completing the intended operations. Mature websites have gone through multiple rounds of testing and have relatively few problems, but there are still user issues.
b. Serious problems are usually easy to detect
Website designers and producers often know how the website works and will operate it according to the design ideas; users do not know, so letting users try the website can often find serious problems more easily.
c. Watching users use products can make them better designers
In the eyes of designers, users are often abstract concepts, and design is completed based on their own imagination. Watching users provides a deeper understanding of how users use a product and how it is designed for use.
3. Testing process
3.1. Basic process description
a. Prepare test cases
Organize all the functions of the website, find out the key and important steps for users to browse the website (or the functions expected to be tested), design the functional scenarios, and finally form a test task document.
Task examples are as follows:
b. Recruit testers
According to the preliminary planning of the website, position the user group, identify individual representative users, and invite them to join the test; the people invited must be able to meet the target (potential) user group.
c. Prepare the test environment
Due to the particularity of the possibility test, I have certain special requirements for the environment:
"1" can provide a relatively independent room, equipped with an ordinary PC that can connect to the Internet, for users to conduct testing. The purpose of providing an independent room is mainly to avoid external interference as much as possible, so that users can devote themselves wholeheartedly. Used together, it is helpful to observe how users deal with usability problems;
"2" Software that will affect the test process should not be opened on ordinary PCs, such as anti-virus software, chat tools and other pop-up window software;
《3》Screen recording software and voice recording software must be installed on the PC to record the user's operations and vocal thinking process during the test;
d. Organize personnel to observe
Arrange observers in advance, who may include product managers, interaction designers, visual designers, front-end engineers and program developers;
e. Conduct testing
The tester takes the user to the test room, introduces the relevance of this test, and conducts the test under the observation of the tester.
3.2. Precautions before testing
a. Before testing, the duration of the test needs to be explained to the user.
b. Require the user to think aloud as much as possible (about what he sees, what he wants to do, and what he thinks)
c. Explain to the user, “What we want to test is the website, not the user.”
d. During the test, questions raised by users about how to use cannot be answered immediately. They can be answered after the test is completed; what we want to test is how users will complete the task without anyone's help.
e. If the user cannot complete the task, switch to the next task. This task cannot be completed.
f. Explain that the test screen and sound will be recorded with the user's permission; the recorded content will be used as a basis for website improvement and will not be seen by anyone unrelated to the project.
3.3. Registration of testers
Before testing each user, the user situation needs to be registered to determine the user's adaptability range:
a. Occupation, age?
b. Approximately how long do you spend online each week?
c.What kind of websites are visited when browsing the web? Give a few examples
d. Is there a website you like to visit very much?
3.4. Home page sightseeing
After understanding the personnel situation, first open the homepage of our website for users to browse. At this stage, do not let users switch to other task pages, and learn the following from users:
a. What kind of website do you think this is?
b. What does this website do?
c. What can you do on the website?
After allowing users to briefly describe the above problems, it is helpful to discover problems in the overall design of the website.
4. About summary and communication
After a test is completed, relevant participants conduct a summary meeting, where everyone discusses the problems observed this time and summarizes the handling opinions for correction in the next revision.
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