Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing?

Posted by jrwoodruff on Saturday November 14, 2009 @05:54PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm working on building a site and we're in the early stages of design. In my day job, we talk a lot about usability and user-centered design but have implemented very little. I want my project to utilize some of the methods we've talked about, particularly methods gleaned from Steve Krug's "Don't make me think" and Jakob Nielsen's well-renowned site.

My question is: How do you do usability testing? What lessons have you learned? What software and equipment do you use? Is there a key piece of literature I need before I jump into this?

My budget is very limited, as this (so far) is a boot-strapped project. Any advice is appreciated.

( 5 comments | 5 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing? by good_guys_win on Saturday November 14, 2009 @06:19PM (#942306)

Amass a large number of facebook "friends" that you don't know, then ask them (in the chat) to beta test whatever it is you create. If they ask questions for answers that should be self explanitory then you need to redo it until it's obvious.

Hint: if you get facebook friends that are high and drunk all the time this can actually help idiot-proof your design as well.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing? by jrwoodruff on Monday November 30, 2009 @02:37PM (#968499)

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input and add some info for posterity's sake;

I stumbled across Silverback about 5 minutes ago and it's what I was looking for to help along testing. It simultaneously records a video of the user and a screencapture, so you can analyze where they're confused, happy, etc.

http://www.silverbackapp.com/

Disclaimer: I have NO connection to this company, just found this useful.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing? by yeti on Saturday November 14, 2009 @08:34PM (#942454)

Find 3-5 people/friends, get them in front of a machine and run through it. No fancy software, just sit next to them and observe, ask questions if they seem stuck or confused. We do it every couple of weeks, seems to work well. Also consider paying for 1-2 hours of a usability experts time to review your site in person, a very good investment.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing? by makecheck on Saturday November 14, 2009 @08:02PM (#942427)

I think the most important thing to do is limit your input. Find 5 people at most, and definitely document everything they say, but don't open up to the whole world. Otherwise you'll end up with so many conflicting opinions that you won't be able to make any decisions.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing? by hshah on Saturday November 14, 2009 @08:00PM (#942424)

Here is a presentation that includes tactics on how to do usability testing as a startup:

http://www.slideshare.net/cindyalvarez/user-testing-tactics

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