Web Usability Blog

We acquired our first eye tracker in 2007 and what a beast it was! The size of a large, old PC monitor, heavy and consequently difficult to take out and about. However, it rapidly became an important tool for us in usability testing. Fortunately, the technology has advanced very rapidly and these days our eye tracker is a pocket-sized device you can take anywhere.

Since Web Usability begun way back in 2002, we have conducted thousands of usability testing sessions with hundreds of clients and testers. With these years of experience, here are 4 pieces of advice we would offer anyone embarking on usability testing…

1. Set clear research objectives at the start

Clients will often come to us with a long list of issues they wish to address during research. These can be wide ranging, determined by underlying internal politics and all in all a bit woolly.

Why can it be a problem?

Over the years we have worked for a number of charities, all doing amazing things. Optimising online donation journeys is often a key objective of conducting UX research. Arguably, one of the main reasons for a charity to have a website is to generate donations. However, many make the process long winded and laborious.

As UX Consultants, we spend a lot of time watching testers scan content. Very rarely will a tester knuckle down to read, word for word, the text in front of them. Instead they will pick out words that are relevant to them and skip over everything else. We recommend watching five minutes of eyetracking footage if you don’t believe us.

A solid information architecture (IA) is the bedrock of a good website. IA focuses on the structuring, organisation and labelling of website content to enable users, who arrive at the home page, to meet their goals and complete tasks as quickly and easily as possible.

Website accessibility introduction

Website accessibility is an essential part of website development. It is also a complex beast to get your head around. There is a mass of guidance and legislation – some of it seemingly contradictory.

We recently talked about the benefits of usability testing early – it saves you time, money and headaches. But how do you test early?

Recently, the Nielson Norman Group published an article* reviewing the benefits of individualised personalisation on websites.

There are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes. There are also many ways to conduct usability testing. For us, the best method is moderated usability testing in the lab or remote. Why? It allows you to find out why problems happen on websites and apps by watching behaviours in real time and probing around testers' responses.

Usability testing early in the web development process saves you time and money and will result in a better outcome overall.