Usability Testing

November 2, 2016 Class Stuff, IT Amber Blog, Reflections, Testing, Web

Usability testing is done for very good reasons–such as, that it helps the developers of the website to know if their website is accessible and navigable.

Some observations that I noticed yesterday while watching the usability test is that it is a very formal process, which it should be. It was also nice to hear the thought processes of the volunteers that were being tested because not everyone thinks the same way. That is also another reason why the testing is useful, because even though the developer might think that something is easy to find, some people do not think like them, making it harder to find what they are looking for.

The one website that I noticed the volunteers had the most trouble with was the Arkansas Kids Read (or something like that) site. Finding the catalog was very difficult for both people, but they eventually got to it. I hope they change something about their site after observing the volunteers’ responses, because what’s the point of developing something and having content on there if users cannot find it?