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Welcome to part two of our three-part blog on conducting a usability study on one of our Drupal sites. In the first part, we explained what this is all about, our intentions, process and what we hope to achieve.
In this part, we conduct the usability test, observing the users on the website while they perform the tasks that we have set them in our scenario.
Although we are recording the users’ screens and webcam feed to observe their body language, it is a good idea to have someone with them to help guide them through the tasks, while being careful not to bias the results. For example, if the user leaves the website through an external link, the guide should gently steer them back to the website being studied, for the purposes of the test, and so on.
On a side note, finding people willing to conduct a usability test, especially when their webcam feed is being filmed, is not always easy! We recommend planning your pitch carefully, and it involving incentives like cakes and beverages…
So, let’s get down to the test. If you would like, it may help to recap on the scenario / tasks. The video below is a short teaser of the three users performing the tasks on the website. We thought this might be more interesting than watching one after the other for 10-15 minutes each. However, so you can check our methodology, (or if you are really, really interested) we have added the full tests below.
In the final part, we will assess the results of the study, write up a list of actionable to dos and implement them on the live site.
Full tests
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Deeson have just completed the rebrand and website for Form Ltd, specialists in fit-out and build services. Form recently did a cracking job of refitting Deeson's new home in Canterbury, so we were delighted when they asked us if we would revamp their corporate identity in conjunction with their new website.
- May24
The Rational Optimist on Guardian.co.uk
Posted by Graeme Blackwood on Monday, 24 May 2010 at 11am
Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, is featured today on the Guardian website, talking about why he believes "life on earth is bound to get better". Deeson Online created rationaloptimist.com, a Drupal site for the interesting, and potentially controversial book.
It's already caused some debate in the office!
- May20
Usability Study Part 1: Goals and Scenario
Posted by Graeme Blackwood on Thursday, 20 May 2010 at 10am
Most people will be familiar with the term “usability”, and instinctively know what it relates to, especially with regards to websites. As web designers, one of our primary goals is to ensure that what we create is usable, but how do we actually know when we get it right?
The only real way of knowing is by observing the people who actually use the thing. Unfortunately, if there is something wrong, quite often your users don’t bother letting you know what isn’t working for them; they just leave your site frustrated.
One of the best ways to get rich, actionable feedback, is to conduct a usability test, and that is the subject of this three-part series.
Using the ideas and processes in Steve Krug’s book “Rocket Surgery Made Easy”, we aim to conduct a usability test on one of our recent Drupal websites, See Further: The Festival of Science and Arts (http://www.seefurtherfestival.org/)
We will think up a scenario, pick on some lucky souls to do a bit of role-playing and give them a series of tasks to perform, watching how they get on. Rather than observing them in person, for the purposes of this blog post and your entertainment, we will be using Camtasia to record their screens and iSight feeds. Connecting body-language to the actions on-screen should give us all an even better idea of what is really going on for the user, and hopefully also be quite amusing!
The goal is to see how successful the website is at delivering the results that the user is looking for, and where it could be improved.
So, here’s the plan:
The Scenario
You are a music teacher at a local school, who also happens to have an interest in science. Hearing about the See Further festival, you decide to plan a school day trip there. You are on your lunch break and don’t want to spend more than about 15 minutes to find the website, see what might be appropriate for your class, and plan the trip.
The Tasks
- Go to the Festival of Science + Arts website: www.seefurtherfestival.org. You are a big fan of the London Philharmonic, so find out if they are taking part in the festival.
- The school is not terribly well funded, so you need to try and find all music-related / performance events that are free, and decide which one you would like to go to, making a note of time, date and location.
- You don’t have access to your email on the computer you are using, but you need to email the event details to your head teacher to confirm it is ok. Use the website’s functionality to do this.
- Lastly, you need to find the address for the Royal Festival Hall so that you know where to go, and want to email this to yourself, again using the site’s functionality.
In the next part, we will conduct the test and observe how our users get on.
