Use Me, Don’t Abuse Me:The Usability Challenge

NPR/PBS Interactive SummitFebruary 22, 2002

Lane Becker, Partner, Adaptive PathErik Dunham, Senior Web Designer, NPR

On the Web at http://adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprpbs/

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Do a User Test Now!

• We’re totally serious

• As soon as you get back from this conference, run a test on

your existing Web site

• It’s really not as difficult as you might think

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But I don’t have the resources!

• Doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming

• Rigorous testing improves data quality, but some data is

almost always better than no data at all

• Your site will suffer if the people who use it don’t have a say in

how it’s going to work

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When can you use user testing?

• All the time!

– During Initial design work

– Between design iterations

– To find out why your users complain so much

– Before redesigning your Web site

– For competitive analysis

• So how does it work, exactly?

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First: Find Some Users

• Fastest, cheapest: your co-workers

• A little more time: family and friends

• More time, more money: in-house mailing or member lists

• Even more time and money: using a recruiting agency to get a

widely distributed demographic audience in a variety of

geographic locales

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Some Recruiting Tips

• Narrow down your intended audience ahead of time

• Be specific about who you want

• Eliminate the obvious: competitors, market researchers, and,

if testing a Web-based application, eliminate people who work

in the Web/software/Internet/computer industry. Many of you

will need to eliminate individuals who work in the broadcasting

industry

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We’ll show you how easy it can be

• Let’s do a user test right here, right now

• We’re going to test a news site: foxnews.com

• We want 3 people who read their news online:– User 1: A news junkie inside the beltway who reads

foxnews.com

– User 2: A news junkie outside the beltway who reads foxnews.com

– User 3: A news junkie inside the beltway who doesn’t read foxnews.com

• For a more formal recruiting screener, see

http://www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprprs/

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Some Interviewing Tips

• Encourage your user to speak their thoughts aloud

• Give the participant exactly as much detail as they need

to get the job done, and no more -- don’t lead!

• Don’t be afraid to follow the conversation in a direction

other than the one that was originally intended

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Some Observing Tips

• Imagine there’s a mirror in the room

• Pay careful attention to the feedback the participants

give

• Look for patterns in an individual participant’s actions,

and across multiple participants

• Don’t get too hung up on one particular phrase,

comment, or problem that a single user has

• Be a “detached observer” — leave your opinions outside

the observation room

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Let’s Test!

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Questions to Ask Yourselves Afterwards

• Was that an effective user test?

• What patterns arose, if any?

• What works on the site?

• What doesn’t work?

• How do we use the data we’ve just obtained?

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How to Contact Us

• Lane Becker, lane@adaptivepath.com

• Erik Dunham, edunham@npr.org

This presentation, as well as a generic version of a user testing screener and protocol, can be found online at: http://www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/nprpbs/