This document provides an overview of usability evaluation techniques for formative testing. It defines usability and discusses the purpose of usability evaluation to identify problems, inform requirements, and optimize design early. A variety of formative techniques are described, including thinking aloud, heuristic evaluation, and paper prototyping. The document emphasizes that usability evaluation should have specific, measurable goals and provide both qualitative and quantitative data to analyze and interpret results to improve the design.

1. BS3001 Human Computer Interaction Usability Evaluation formative techniques By Jenny Le Peuple 2007 Edited by Dr K. Dudman 2008 Revised by Pen Lister 2009

3. System acceptability revisited... System acceptability Social acceptability Practical acceptability Efficient to use Cost Compatibility Reliability Etc Utility Usefulness From Nielsen (1993 p.25) Usability Easy to learn Easy to remember Few errors Subjectively pleasing

6. Usability problems - some examples Examples are from a flickr.com group about bad usability: http://www.flickr.com/groups/everyday-usability Where do I click to select the pump I want to use?

7. Usability problems - some examples Whaaa? These are the lift summoning controls at the Barbican

8. Usability problems - some examples This is the page you arrive at when you click on ‘special offers’ – hands up what is wrong with that….

9. Usability problems - some examples This is from MS Outlook – a great example of bad usability as a result of lack of consistency in design of the interface

10. Usability problems - some examples ABOVE: The worst possible way of entering numbers LEFT: The checkbox button should be radio buttons AND really should be either/or, don’t you think? This example is from Iarchitect “Hall of Shame”. It is archived at http://homepage.mac.com/bradster/iarchitect/

14. Refining general guidelines into usability goals an example for a specific system (conference registration site) adapted from Quesenbery, 2003 You may find it useful, for your coursework, to group your usability goals under the same dimensions. Obviously there should be a lot more of them, since the above is just an example Dimension (guideline) Usability goal Effective Fewer than 5% of registrations will have errors that require follow-up by conference staff Efficient User will successfully complete registration in < 5 minutes Engaging In a follow-up survey, at least 80% of users will express comfort with using the online system instead of a paper system Error tolerant System will validate accommodation, meal and tutorial choices and allow user to confirm Easy to learn 95% of users will be able to successfully complete registration at first attempt

17. Numerous techniques available Proactive Field Study Pluralistic Walkthroughs Teaching Method Shadowing Method Co-discovery Learning Question-asking Protocol Scenario-based Checklists Heuristic Evaluation Thinking-aloud Protocol Cognitive Walkthroughs Paper Prototyping Usability Audits Expert Evaluation Coaching Method Performance Measurement Interviews Retrospective Testing Remote Testing Feature Inspection Focus Groups Questionnaires Field Observation Logging Actual Use

30. Useful Websites http://www.worldusabilityday.org/ http://www.useit.com http://www.uie.com/brainsparks http://www.usability.gov / http://www.usabilitynet.org/home.htm Published in Interactions September + October 2005

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