Abstract
As the importance of interface design in information appliances became recognized, usability testing has been widely introduced. However usability testing in the environment of a closed laboratory has been known to cause some significant difficulties: cost, time, unnatural environment, and lack of opportunity for idea generation. The goal of this study is to propose the new prototype of tool for ‘remote usability testing for information appliances through World Wide Web’. At first, existing usability testing methods for information appliances are reviewed to identify major problems. Based on the problems of existing usability testing, the concept of remote usability testing through WWW is established and the prototype called RUTIA is developed and introduced. In the new tool, the specially developed browser is distributed to users who are required to download. Once users download browser they are guided through stages of usability testing: introduction, identifying user himself, performing given tasks over computer-simulated information appliances, and generating user’s ideas on interface design. After users finished the given tasks and generation of ideas, all the interaction data including time taken, operational path, think-aloud and generated ideas are saved on a server for further analyses and generating solutions. In the analysis module, a researcher can conduct diverse analyses with saved data. Analyses can be done with various forms: visualized user’s operational paths and a table of statistics of time and pressed buttons. It was found that some further refinements of tool are required: product size limited less than screen size and limited user type.
Citation
Lee, K. (2002) Remote usability testing for information appliances through WWW - with the emphasis on the development of tools, in Durling, D. and Shackleton, J. (eds.), Common Ground - DRS International Conference 2002, 5-7 September, London, United Kingdom. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2002/researchpapers/46
Remote usability testing for information appliances through WWW - with the emphasis on the development of tools
As the importance of interface design in information appliances became recognized, usability testing has been widely introduced. However usability testing in the environment of a closed laboratory has been known to cause some significant difficulties: cost, time, unnatural environment, and lack of opportunity for idea generation. The goal of this study is to propose the new prototype of tool for ‘remote usability testing for information appliances through World Wide Web’. At first, existing usability testing methods for information appliances are reviewed to identify major problems. Based on the problems of existing usability testing, the concept of remote usability testing through WWW is established and the prototype called RUTIA is developed and introduced. In the new tool, the specially developed browser is distributed to users who are required to download. Once users download browser they are guided through stages of usability testing: introduction, identifying user himself, performing given tasks over computer-simulated information appliances, and generating user’s ideas on interface design. After users finished the given tasks and generation of ideas, all the interaction data including time taken, operational path, think-aloud and generated ideas are saved on a server for further analyses and generating solutions. In the analysis module, a researcher can conduct diverse analyses with saved data. Analyses can be done with various forms: visualized user’s operational paths and a table of statistics of time and pressed buttons. It was found that some further refinements of tool are required: product size limited less than screen size and limited user type.