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Usability Testing & Evaluation

Why?

It's not unusual for users have trouble using an application. Aside from technical problems, there's a long list of barriers: applications that are hard to learn, asking users to do too many tasks, not providing clear instructions, losing data that's important for users, and many more — this list can go on and on. The list of negative results is also quite long, from general dissatisfaction with the application to cancelled orders and lost customers. These concerns are serious enough that you should be sure your application's user interface is satisfactory.

The Solution

Usability testing and usability evaluation are aimed at analyzing user interface and improving its usability and overall quality. This analysis means that personas describing key users of the system should be defined beforehand as well as user goals and business goals — that's the basis on which user interface usability can be evaluated. This analysis allows us to plan and run usability testing in a systematic and productive way — to find both general and specific problems of the user interface. A lot of specific problems can be found only when you know your application users and their tasks well enough to put yourself in their place.

UI Modeling Company uses two common ways to evaluate usability: usability testing and usability evaluation. The usability testing method is more precise and indicative — it requires real users' involvement to see how they perform their everyday tasks with the application. This is more effective for finding specific problems. Usability evaluation is quicker and less expensive — usability experts review applications page by page. This method is better for finding general problems. And both methods can be used separately or in combination for a better result — identifying a list of user interface usability issues that's as detailed and as complete as possible.

The list of issues is not the end of the process; recommendations for how to resolve these issues should be compiled. Recommendations can be presented in different ways — from text descriptions for how to fix every problem to updated user interface specifications in the form of wireframes that define page content and layouts, use cases that define user interactions and their sequence, and software requirement specifications that define business rules.

Want to know details about how this is done? Learn more about the Usability Testing & Evaluation process.

Results

At the end of the Usability Testing & Evaluation process, there is a series of documents produced and delivered to the client:

• Usability Testing Report. A set of documents that include the test background, text report, video, audio, and screen-capture records taken during the test.
• Usability Evaluation Report. A set of documents that include the evaluation background and text report.
• Usability Issues List. A text document that describes usability issues in detail.
• Usability Recommendations List. A text document that describes in detail how to resolve usability issues.
• Updated Wireframes. A set of graphic documents that describe page layouts.
• Updated Use Cases. A set of text documents that describe page navigation and interactions.
• Updated Software Requirement Specification. A text document that describes business rules and functionality in detail.

The set of deliverables may be customized, depending on client needs, but it should contain at least a Usability Testing or Evaluation Report and Usability Issues List.

Have a question? Feel free to contact us.

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