Within the UX world, more and more technologies are emerging that measure users’ physiology to gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts and emotions. These include measuring heart rates, sweat gland activity and even brainwaves. One example is facial recognition software. By people in the know it is described as the ‘systematic analysis of facial expressions’. To everyone else it means using a computer to understand someone’s emotions by reading their expressions.

We consider three elements to be key in any user experience research we undertake:

Most of the research we do on websites is now done during the development stage: thank goodness the days of usability testing just before, or even after, launch is now in the past for the vast bulk of our clients. See User test early - Quicker, better, cheaper outcomes.

As the web has grown up, a number of user interface design conventions have established themselves.

All websites should be accessible to disabled users, not only for ethical and commercial considerations, but also for legal. The Equality Act 2010 (EQA) prohibits discrimination from providers of services, good and facilities (EQA Section 21(1)). In 2011 the Human Rights Commission published a Statutory Code of Practice for "Services, public functions and associations" under the EQA explicitly stating that commercial websites are included in the scope of the EQA for the provision of services.

Your website should be usable and accessible for everyone. Testing with disabled users is essential to achieve a comprehensive accessibility evaluation of your website.

How we browse the web is determined by a number of different things: what we are trying to find, how high value our search query is, the sort of person that we are.

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How many times has a report landed on your desk, you’ve given it a cursory glance then left it there to gather dust? Whilst reports are a valuable way to document findings of usability testing, on their own they will have limited impact. However, by combining said report with a rigorous buy in process, you will get many more members of your organisation on board and have a far easier job implementing your research findings.

Usability testing is the best way to find out if your site is effective – that is, will it work with real users and help you achieve your online goals. Watching real users interacting with a site or app (both in development and live) is the best way to understand the issues that interfere with a good user experience; it also forces those with responsibility for the site or app to ‘walk in the users’ shoes’ – often an unsettling experience!