usability ed

Remote user testing tips

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:25:00 +0000

An excellent introduction to using remote unmoderated user testing services like usertesting.com. If you've never tried and are considering giving it a whirl, read this first.

The author is talking about usertesting.com specifically, but the principles he outlines apply to the ever growing range of similar services out there. I've used usertesting.com before though, and so far have had no reason to go looking elsewhere.

Tips for testing your designs with UserTesting.com - article by Michael Margolis

Previous post: usertesting.com - big thumbs up (November 2009)

Planning user research

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:14:00 +0000

An excellent set of questions to run through with your colleagues or clients (or just in your own head) before beginning the process of planning user research.

If you're being asked to do some user testing on your website, or if you're trying to work out how to encourage colleagues and stakeholders to become a little more user focused, this could be a good way to start.

I'll be keeping the list to hand for future project kick-off meetings.

Questions to ask before starting user research - article by Michael Margolis

Personas: beware creative writing

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:01:00 +0000

Jared Spool discusses the dangers involved in creating personas with little or no user engagement. There comes a point where the persona creation exercise is simply a process of creative writing and therefore virtually useless.

As someone who is a firm believer in the value of personas even when limited research data is involved, I found this a thought-provoking read.

I suppose I've been of this view as I work so often with people who deal first hand with target audiences almost daily. I've seen personas - even without formal research data - as a way to harness years of experience and to give these colleagues a voice in the website development process.

But if the people creating the personas don't have any first hand experience of the target audience to draw on, then it's a different matter...

When Does A Persona Stop Being A Persona? - blog post by Jared Spool

Eyetracking with a webcam

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:52:00 +0000

The author of an upcoming book on eyetracking blogs their experience of trying out an eyetracking service that uses nothing more than a webcam.

I'd never heard of such a service, so found Aga Bojko's experiences interesting. For now, it doesn't seem like something I'd bother with but technology is constantly improving so in a year or two, who knows?

The Truth About Webcam Eye Tracking - blog post by Aga Bojko

Task success, failure - confidence?

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:13:00 +0000

Jeff Sauro talks about the one thing worse than the user failing to complete the task. Failing to complete the task, and thinking they'd been successful. So an important aspect to your usability testing - asking the participant to rate their confidence.

And this is crucial on University websites. The huge, disparate nature of web publishing in most institutions provides tons of opportunities to get the answer to a question from numerous sources. And if you look for long enough, you'll sometimes get different answers to the same question.

I've long used a confidence rating question in my sessions. What Sauro classifies as a "disaster" is alive and kicking on higher education websites.

Measuring User Interface Disasters - article by Jeff Sauro

And a related article about an equally often observed trait:

Do Users Fail A Task And Still Rate It As Easy? - article by Jeff Sauro

Search landing pages - marketing budget wasted?

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:50:00 +0000

A great article about paid advertising on search engine results pages by Jared Spool. Pretty obvious points I would have thought, but from the examples listed it appears not. In the quest to spend the marketing budget, consideration of the user experience seems to go out of the window sometimes...

Using paid advertising slots in Google search results, or on any site for that matter, is only worthwhile if your landing page lives up to the promise of the ad. If they don't then it's a paid-for click wasted. When we're searching this is most acute.

In fact, as I read this I realised I'd just seen a unit at the University of Edinburgh do exactly the same thing via Facebook just this week. The ad in my sidebar offered one thing, but the landing page I was taken to presented something related but fundamentally different.

I'd love to see the analytics for this campaign as my instinct is that most visitors would abandon immediately. If you're going to the expense of paying for visitors, why not bring them to the site honestly and then talk to them directly rather than dumping them on a homepage?

Three Perils with Search Landing Pages - article by Jared Spool for uie.com

Writing content - less is more

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

A nice little piece reminding us that we're producing too much content and often obscuring the key messages we set out to communicate.

This article is worth a quick read, and pulls quotes from a number of usability and web writing experts.

Communicate Clearly With Less Content - article by Rick Allen for meetcontent.com

Web accessibility myths

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:13:00 +0000

An excellent article by Jonathan Hassell which tackles some fundamental challenges presented to people trying to steer their organisations to more accessible websites and services. The accessibility agenda seems to be moving from focusing on the developer to focusing on the business which is encouraging.

Jonathan Hassell was a lead author on 2010's revised British Standard (BS8878) and head of the BBC's accessibility initiatives so he certainly knows what he's talking about. But beyond this he's a great and persuasive communicator and what he talks about goes deeper than accessibility. What he's talking about is why inclusiveness and user-focus are fundamental to good business.

The article also contains tons of links to further reading, useful accessibility tools and case studies which in itself makes it well worth bookmarking.

Web accessibility myths 2011: a call for accessibility advocates to be more business-minded - article by Jonathan Hassell

I saw Jonathan give a great and inspiring presentation at World Usability Day at Uservision in Edinburgh in November 2011. His slides from the World Usability Day session are well worth viewing too.

Eyetracking Facebook social media

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:45:00 +0000

Summaries of a couple of eyetracking studies conducted mainly on Facebook - one for brand pages and one for personal pages. The personal page study also compared behaviour with other social media sites.

While it's interesting stuff, I would have liked to know a bit more about the study. From what I can see, participants weren't given a scenario or task prior to having screenshots flashed up in front of them. It's been shown in the past that a person's eye movements can vary on the same image depending on the context that has been presented. (See: User test instructions affect behaviour - Feb 2011)

But then, I suppose that it's more likely that viewing of social media sites is going to be more aimless. I certainly don't visit sites like Facebook with a particular task in mind most of the time. Other than: "I'm bored, I wonder what folk have been posting?"

So, I suppose if most people think like me then this explains the results. You'll see the key focus is on the main content - the update stream in the centre of the page - with Nielsen's F shape pattern emerging.

While it's usually said that people scan the page with most focus on top left we can see that familiarity with the layout of the medium results in this behaviour persisting but shifting to the central column. The real top-left content - the profile image - is given less attention in the majority of cases.

So what does this mean for the profiles we manage alongside our websites? Content, content, content.

Post regularly.
Think about why you're posting - will it be of interest to the target audience and what do you want readers to do? Try to have a call to action - something to do as a result of reading.
Monitor the interest in your posting - so you can hone the focus of your posts. And get an idea of whether your posts are driving readers to your site.
Respond to your posts - readers aren't just interested in your content, they're also interested in the interaction. So unanswered comments and questions isn't a good look.

What People Look at on Facebook Brand Pages - article by Sarah Kessler for mashable.com

How People Look at Your Facebook Profile - article by Sarah Kessler for mashable.com

Related post: Horizontal attention leans left (April 2010)

$300 million usability fix revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:06:00 +0000

A few years ago Jared Spool told the story of a project he worked on in which a relatively simple alteration had an incredibly profitable pay off. He's recently written a new article telling the back story.

If you've not come across this story before, it's well worth a read. Jared's company do a usability study for an e-commerce company. The designers replace a mandatory registration process with an alternative purchase step and sales increase by $300 million in the first year.

A fantastic story, and really inspiring for anyone trying to embed some user centred research into their website management processes.

The $300 Million Button - article by Jared Spool for uie.com

The Back Story for the $300 Million Button - blog post by Jared Spool

Staff productivity affected by website usability - McGovern

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Gerry McGovern rails against organisational apathy in website design and the impact it can have on staff productivity and morale.

It's a depressing but somewhat familiar tale. I particularly liked the quote:

"I don't have a problem finding people," a CEO once told me. Obviously he didn't. He had a secretary.

How to increase productivity in the digital workplace - article by Gerry McGovern

Persona guide & how to use them

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:38:00 +0000

Another introductory article on personas; this time from usability company Bunnyfoot. I particularly like this one for the little illustrations that run through their discussion of what personas are and what they're not.

And one of the best aspects of this article is the example they use throughout which does a good job of illustrating the points they're making.

Bunnyfoot's guide to personas and how to use them

Quick tips podcast by Paul Boag

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:31:00 +0000

Boagworld boos sounds like a discount off licence, but it's not. Paul Boag delivers short podcast pearls of wisdom and other things that just seem to be on his mind at a particular point in time.

That's not really selling Paul's audio boos but they're really worthwhile subscribing to.

The range of topics is pretty wide within the world of web design and management, but even when the thing he's talking about isn't really for you he's always finished in under 5 minutes.

A great way to keep an eye (or ear to be more precise) on a great number of related topics.

Boagworld Audioboos - short web-related podcasts from Paul Boag

User testing metrics

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 09:20:00 +0000

So you're conducting a usability study; you've recruited users and organised your tasks. Jeff Sauro suggests the measures (metrics) you might use when putting numerical values on their experiences.

Metrics are an important thing to get right (particularly when you're looking to demonstrate ongoing improvement), and Jeff's article suggests nine beyond the basic success or failure rate.

Working with stakeholders ahead of your research to agree what will be measured and what is considered to be an acceptable figure is a great way to engage others in the process and foster buy-in for your work.

Jeff's "essential usability metrics":

Completion Rates
Usability Problems
Task Time
Task Level Satisfaction
Test Level Satisfaction
Errors
Expectation
Page Views/Clicks
Conversion
Single Usability Metric (Combining a range of metrics into a single score)

I've never considered using a single usability metric before, but think this could be just the thing I need to help me express how we're doing in a report card-style summary. (I wrote about Lou Rosenfeld's report summary in October).

10 Essential Usability Metrics - article by Jeff Sauro

Quantifying the user experience

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:41:00 +0000

As soon as I admire a user experience map and feel that it's beyond me, almost the next thing I read is a great article on how to create something very similar. And this seems totally do-able. Consider mapping the user experience to better understand what's going on and see where you can improve things.

At the moment, expressing the user or customer experience is in my thoughts. How can we succinctly explain what we want to aspire to without getting dragged into organisational or technical complications? Something we can all share?

I'm working on a narrative approach at the moment - mainly because I don't work with UX professionals. I work with academics and administrators who want to do things better. But they don't have the time and expertise to get into stuff like this. So for me right now, writing a few lines with them is a big step forward.

Anyway, I really liked this article and will be looking for a project and a bit of time to try this out in the near future.

Using Storyboards and Sentiment Charts to Quantify Customer Experience - article by Ben Crothers for uxmatters.com

Recent related blog posts

Experience map examples

Mapping customer journeys

Experience map examples

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:58:00 +0000

The idea of an experience map is an interesting one and well worth a look. Much more complex and detailed than other diagrams of customer experience I've come across, they're really inspiring even if I think they're a bit beyond me right now. Something to aspire to.

A diagram that outlines the full experience of the customer - online, offline, the opportunities, the challenges and problems.

Like personas, they're a catalyst rather than an end result. Something to inspire and steer a group of stakeholders.

Adaptive Path's user experience map for Rail Europe

The Anatomy of an Experience Map - article by Chris Risdon for Adaptive Path

PDF download of the Rail Europe experience map from Adaptive Path

Another example:
Experience Maps: Understanding Cross-Channel Experiences For Gamers - article and examples by Gene Smith

Usability review mistakes

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:27:00 +0000

If you don't have an opportunity for testing, then a usability review might be a viable alternative. But you really need to have prior experience of running tests and observing users to do this successfully.

This article by David Travis has some really useful pointers, plus links to additional resources and articles, if a usability review is something you're considering.

David's 4 key mistakes:

Problem #1: The reviewer fails to take the user’s perspective
Problem #2: The review is based on the opinion of one reviewer
Problem #3: The review uses a generic set of usability principles
Problem #4: The reviewer lacks experience

Do you make these 4 mistakes when carrying out a usability review? - article by David Travis

First click vital - McGovern

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:46:00 +0000

Gerry McGovern talks about the importance of your website visitors' first click, referencing Bob Bailey's research findings and suggesting some tools to refine your site.

I wrote about this last month (Importance of your users first click - October 2011) when Jeff Sauro also commented on Bailey's research, providing some great tips on how to run research yourself to improve your site.

Gerry McGovern has also written about this research, emphasising how important it is to get the first tier of your navigation right, and to be ruthless in refining it to ensure it works best for your visitors' top tasks.

I think this kind of activity is really important, but keep in mind that it's not the be-all and end-all. Time and again in usability tests I see participants getting to the right page on a website but not successfully completing the task.

Why? Because the structure of the content on the page was so poor that they couldn't find the information they wanted on the page. A quick scan and they moved on to continue their search on other pages.

Gerry also recommends some tools to help you test and improve your site in this area. They all have free plans that allow you to run online tests with small numbers of participants which could be of use during the early stages of site planning or appraisal.

Chalkmark is an online version of an approach I've employed for years in person. Sketch your homepage (I often use Visio or more recently, Balsamiq) and show it to someone after setting them a task and see if they start off the right route. After a small number of participants you can begin to see if your website structure or labelling is causing confusion. Or perhaps you just need to cross reference certain areas to catch the visitors heading off down the wrong route.

I'd recommend taking a look at Chalkmark and the demo they've set up, if for no other reason than to see a good example of how to execute research like this. Personally, I'd always go for in-person testing if I had the choice as I find the follow up questions after the test to be as useful as the test itself. But this online version is also great if what you need is something quick and easy.

I've played with 5 second test.com in the past too and it's much the same (How quickly do website users form an impression? - April 2011). A useful approach to be aware of as part of your range of user testing tools.

The vital importance of the first click - article by Gerry McGovern

First click usability testing - article and research by Bob Bailey

Chalkmark online usability testing tool - details, demo and signup

The makers of Chalkmark - Optimal Workshop - also have a couple of other tools, one of which caught my eye. Treejack is a way to test out a site structure before the site is built. Potentially very useful, but it does concern me that this approach can encourage us to plan site structures before writing the content - a sure fire way to content bloat.

Treejack online site structure testing tool - details, demo and signup

Mobile website strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:43:00 +0000

There's more to a mobile site than simply reformatting your existing website to suit a small screen. Jakob Nielsen and Gerry McGovern explain why.

Jakob Nielsen has summarised the key points from his report on the topic. The main point being that the medium is far less forgiving than the desktop-designed website. Content must be even more concise, IA and functionality stripped back and simplified to only what is absolutely essential.

In a related article by Gerry McGoven, he comments on Nielsen's research and makes a really good (and regularly overlooked) point:

"Web strategy is far more about psychology than technology, blogs, Twitter or any other forms of content. The more people use the Web to live their lives and do their jobs, the more web professionals need to invest in understanding human behavior."

Mobile UX Sharpens Usability Guidelines - article by Jakob Nielsen

You don't need a mobile strategy - article by Gerry McGovern

Organisational silos impede user experience - Microsoft in 2003

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:45:00 +0000

A fascinating article which discusses an email sent by Bill Gates to senior Microsoft staff about the poor state of the user experience in 2003.

The email outlines the experience of downloading and installing a particular piece of software from the Microsoft website. Bill has an awful time but essentially, his departments all point the finger at each other.

The bottom line is that no one was taking responsibility for the user experience. Each department was working to its own priorities which (it seems) were conflicting with each other so while individually they probably were doing well, as a whole they were failing.

Silo mentality. Sound familiar?

It's a fascinating read. I recommend it. If you work in a large, devolved organisation as I do you will probably recognise elements of the story.

How Organizational Silos created an User Experience Deadlock at Microsoft by Bernhard Schindlholzer for cxacademy.org

Mapping customer journeys

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:38:00 +0000

An interesting approach and tutorial on defining the customer journey from the Cusomer Experience Academy. I'm currently working on a project exploring the prospective postgraduate student experience online, so a lot this resonated with me.

I liked the graphing approach to reporting which to me is simple yet effective; a very immediate way to communicate what happened.

The tutorial pulls in several user experience research techniques - usability testing, personas and diary studies - and explains how they can be used to better understand the experiences your customer goes through. I like the focus on the bigger picture, rather than just engagement with your business or website.

Customer experience graph from cxacademy.org tutorial

Customer Journeys: An Introduction - article by Bernhard Schindlholzer for cxacademy.org

Web project roles

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:24:00 +0000

An interesting matrix of roles that work together in a web project. It's prompted me to think how many boxes we tick at the University and where the balance of influence lies.

Originally produced by skillset.org, I turned this copy up on the content strategy blog braintraffic.com.

The mighty hive - blog post on braintraffic.com

Content strategy & CMS development

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:52:00 +0000

I've been reading some great stuff on a site called CMS Myths. It's reassuring to me that most organisations seem to experience the same frustrations and pain with their content management system. And it's ironic that content and content strategy is so often the poor relation when it comes to planning the procurement or development of the tool.

The management of a CMS is so rarely driven by what it's designed to do: manage content. It is however, often driven by things like technical development considerations, graphic design and cost cutting agendas. And this so misses the point.

The content is often where the value is, it's what the website visitor is there to consume, it's what can save the organisation money or generate revenue and enhance the brand.

The website cmsmyth.com is providing me with lots of interesting reading right now, but one thing that's worth a quick read by anyone who uses or manages a content management system-driven website is their CMS Wisdom Report. Basically a collection of quotes and advice from people who use content management systems.

The same strories come out time and time again: don't underestimate the ongoing costs and responsibilities, don't believe the vendor when they promise you the earth, and invest in your website editors. It's the people that make the website, not the tool.

I particularly liked:

“A bad implementation of a good CMS is a bad solution.”

CMS Wisdom from the Trenches - article on cmsmyth.com with free download of CMS Truths Report

And a related note, a blog post by content strategist Lisa Welchman, reflecting on a recent content strategy conference at which CMS implementation was discussed. The line that particularly caught my eye:

The lack of understanding and clarity on both sides of the IT/Content fence coupled with the business and cultural disconnect between these two sides of the organization has made for an interesting dynamic in-house and online (often referred to as “a mess”).

And I think this is exactly the situation we're currently working so hard to avoid right now as we review our CMS and website.

Go Figure: Content Strategists Talking About WCM Systems - blog article by Lisa Welchman

Link writing advice

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:10:00 +0000

A couple of articles offering some very good advice on what makes effective link text.

Links are at the core of what the web is about. When I observe website visitors in user testing sessions, they're often the root cause of the problems they encounter.

Well written links are critical for good usability, accessibility and search engine optimisation.

If you write web content, you should have most of these points at the forefront of your mind.

The only point I'd disagree with is Trenton Moss's "limit links to four words". I've seen research from Jared Spool which suggests the most effective link text is typically longer than this. And I've seen first hand how poorly one- and two-word link text can perform.

While I think it always depends, for me four words would usually be the minimum for in-page link text and a few more words will generally bring more clarity. So long as the most important words are the first two or three.

Editorial Style for Inline Links - article for meetcontent.com by Rick Allen

Writing effective link text - artilce for webcredible by Trenton Moss

Copywriting tips for SEO

noreply@blogger.com (Neil Allison) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:52:00 +0000

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is often a big issue for website owners at the University of Edinburgh. This article covers some excellent advice that every copywriter should put into practice.Most will have a positive impact on your content's usability and accessibility too.

Despite what you may suspect or have heard, there is no magic wand or secret tricks to improve your web pages' ranking. It really is down to your content - how useful it is to your readers and how well you structure it.

This meetcontent.com article distills this into 9 top tips.

SEO Copywriting for Content Contributors - article by Rick Allen