What makes usability?

Usability is defined as user-frendliness. How easy is it to make something work in practice? It is easy to handle the scissors. To fly a helicopter is difficult. To manage a home cinema must be easy but makes one think.
 

Web-Site Usability

Web-site usability is a criterion of how a certain user navigates, searches for information and interacts with your web-site. The term usabiity involves not your ideas of how users navigate, search for information and interact but the ideas of how they interact with your site in practice.

Unlike surveys and focus-groups usability-testing is a process of two people interacting with each other. One lead monitors one user. The results are immediate and doubtless. If the user presses the wrong link, they are not to blame, it is a failure of the site logic and design.
 

Usabilty Main Stages.

The process of usability-testing comprises four main stages:

1. Planning and preparing.
2. Selecting participants.
3.  Running a session.
4.  Analysing data and drafting recommendations.
    

Planning and Preparing for Usability Testing.

The tests should not be difficult, but they should be targeted at final results. The testing time is limited: there is usually one hour for one session.

The testing plan is a must.

The plan must be both the overview and guidelines to your version of testing. It must contain at least the following:

• General goals and tasks
• Techniques (testing procedure, equipment, premises etc.)
• Profile of the target audience (those to be tested)
• Testing scheme (introduction into the matter, list of tasks, testing questions)
• Certain list of tasks
• Final evaluation (data analysis)
• Report structure (how the results and recommendations are planned to be submitted)
   

Selecting participants of web-site usability

Search for prospect participants is one of the most problematic aspects of usability testing.

All prospect participants must either fill in on-line or fax the forms inquiring their main demographic information as well as methods of their using the Internet.

The reasons for requirements for the information shall be obvious: while testing for usability it is needed that the testee should correspond to your target audience. All the data are analysed, sorted and finally sifted out.
 

Conducting a session of web-site usability.

Each session is started in a friendly and calm atmosphere. Testees are acquainted with the testing process, and the number or scope of tasks are announced.

During the testing no emotions are shown. If a participant puts a question, they can be answered only if it is really necessary without specifying. The testee should get no clues.

If the testee gets upset, it is needed to evaluate the level of upset and mark the task “failed” only in the case all possible means were tried. Do not regard the failed task as a testing falure. It is on the contrary. Detecting site drawbacks, you eliminate the number of users who will leave your site frustrated (it is the failure of your business and the lost-for-ever customer).

Filming the session is also of a great use to be then watched by other team-players.
 

Analysing data and drafting recommendations of the web-site usability.

When one realises why and how a user failed a task or you see where the problematic item is, it is easy to make a conclusion about the problems on the site. To define the way to solve a problem qualification is required. Specialists are recommended how to improve and alter.

On detecting problematic areas, difficuties are noted down. The source of the problem is revealed—the photo of the screen is used.

All the problems are ordered from the most to the least frequent and then prioritised. The functionality of a high level is defined: general aspects of navigation are analysed, textual and graphic links are compared, page images and etc. Then certain areas and recommendations on improving customer care are accentuated.