Overview

Usability Test Plan - a series of user activities designed to see whether the page layouts and information architecture make it possible to accomplish the projected user tasks easily and effectively.

We'll present the information in these parts:

• Discussion of Usability Test Preparation
• Contents of a Usability Test Plan
• Example Scenario
• Submitting the Test Plan

  For more background detail, see module W80c.

Before beginning to prepare a usability test plan, we'll need to have:

• Users identified
• Information architecture
• Page layouts

For a test to be meaningful and unbiased, it must be carefully planned. Planning includes:

1. Deciding what type of test presentation will be used
2. Creating test scenarios
3. Determining tester roles

Type of Test Presentation

Two kinds of prototype that can be used for testing a site: paper-based and computer-based.

Paper prototypes

These can be quite informal as long as they are clearly readable. The user testers simply tap with their finger to indicate mouse-clicks. However, there needs to be an additional staff person in the testing process to serve as a "computer" - interpreting user taps and putting up appropriate paper screens, dialog boxes, and drop-down menus.

So in addition to the rough drawings made during brainstorming or preliminary design, prototypes for testing need to have:

• Dialog boxes: the small windows that pop up to get user input or warn of errors;
• Drop-down menus: lists of options that aren't visible on the screen until the user clicks on or rolls over a visible feature of the screen.

Computer Prototypes

Computer screens can be used whenever they're ready, even if they don't have the final fonts, colors, or images. In order to be useful, they do need:

• All navigation to be active;
• Any pop-ups, drop-downs, or dialog boxes involved in presenting options or making final goals available to users.

Test Scenarios

A test scenario is a situation presented to a user tester. The scenario needs:

• A precise definition of who the user represents, including
  • Demographics: Age bracket, gender, education level and specialty, income bracket, job type
  • Cultural background, including place of origin and language skills
  • Degree of experience with computers and the Internet
  • Disabilities, including physical and mental
  • Web viewing environment, including connection speed, screen size and color depth, browser preferences, and computer type (brand, model, and OS version)
  • any other factors the seems important to the audience definition
• Where to start: what is the computer configuration when the user starts?
• Goal: what is the user trying to accomplish? This should be as precise as possible.

Several scenarios can be presented to each user. These need to be prepared in advance, in a form that can be read aloud to the user when testing begins.

Tester Roles

Two or three staff testers are needed, depending on which kind of prototype is to be used. Individuals should be identified for each role.

• Presenter: the person who instructs the user in how to go about the test, and reads the scenarios to them. The presenter is the only member of the testing team who should talk to the user during the test; otherwise, the user can easily get distracted or confused. The presenter should encourage the user to "think aloud" so the Observer can make note of their impressions and ideas.
• Observer: this person makes detailed notes on the user's actions during the test. Often, the observer records the number of seconds it takes for the user to complete a goal. Observers should be able to take notes quickly and legibly.
• Computer: if paper prototypes are used, there has to be someone to simulate the action of the computer by changing pages and presenting pop-ups and dialog boxes. This person should know the screens well, and organize them for quick retrieval during the test.

In addition to the people directly involved in the test, a Greeter is often helpful in professional user-testing situations. Their role is to welcome the users, put them at ease, and make sure that any preliminary paperwork is done.

Your Usability Test Plan should include:

1. Introduction referring to the Web Site Objectives and Project Scope document, identifying the team participants and the client.
2. Purpose and focus of the testing. What aspects of the site will be tested by users? What possible problems will you be especially concerned about? Which of the success criteria can be user-tested?
3. Presentation types: will the test use paper-based or computer-based techniques? If a computer is used, how will a range of internet environments be tested? (For example, how will a slow dial-up connection be tested?)
4. Resources needed: equipment, space, and time.
5. List of pages from the site that will be needed for testing (either on paper or on screen) including any menus or dialog boxes that should be tested.
6. List of scenarios with brief description of the types of users and tasks; this can serve as a table of contents for the test scenarios themselves.
7. The test scenarios themselves, in a form that can be read aloud to users.

This uses the Stony Creek Historical Museum's Web site and Victoria McGruder, who is described in W78f.

1. Individual team members get their part of this assignment to the Team Leader by email attachment, or some other method mutually agreed upon in discussion.
2. Team Leader makes sure all documents in the milestone of which this is a part are gathered together in a compatible form.
3. Team Leader and/or content specialist check for correct spelling and English usage.
4. Team leader verifies that material submitted meets the requirements.
5. Team leader or content specialist FTP the material to the team's Web site, informing the instructor and other team members by emailing the URI to them.