Ask HN: How do you do your usability testing?
5 comments
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.
Hint: if you get facebook friends that are high and drunk all the time this can actually help idiot-proof your design as well.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here is a presentation that includes tactics on how to do usability testing as a startup:
http://www.slideshare.net/cindyalvarez/user-testing-tactics
http://www.slideshare.net/cindyalvarez/user-testing-tactics
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.