USABILITY TESTING
 

Team Tasks [Updated]
New Sections
Introduction
Method
Test Measures
Results
Discussion
Formal Experiment Design
Appendices 1. Experiment Kit: Instructions, Tasks, Satisfaction Questionnaires 2. Observation Log Forms 3. Presentation and Demo Script 4. Demograph Data & Satisfaction Questionnaires Results: Tester 1 | Tester 2 | Tester 3  5. Observation Log Data: Tester 1 | Tester 2 | Tester 3 6. Test Environment | Consents 1 & 2, 3 [images]

..................................................................................................................................

Introduction

Since the low-fi prototype usability testing, the design of entire the SFnight, including the personalized areas of MySFnight, has gone through many more interactions. The Simian Text Book Exchange Team performed heuristic evaluation on the first interactive prototype, built using Dreamweaver. A second interactive prototype of the customized areas for consumers was developed based on the evaluators' input, and integrated on SFnight Final Project.

In the second interactive prototype, some of the front end user interface is connected to the backend MySQL database using Perl CGI, which is implemented by SFnight Final Project team. The 213 part of the prototype is related to the customization features for nighlife consumers and its integration with the overall SFnight site. A better sense of the 213 project can be seen in the following images:

Homepage elements
Customer Sign in
MySFnight
Homepage elements customized
Venue/Event page customized elements and feedback
Search results page customized elements

In the two weeks following the completion of the second prototype, extensive backend implementation and further overall SFnight design changes will be made to create a third interactive prototype. The low-fi prototype usability test kit was modified and improved to better test the current interactive prototype. Three volunteer participants whose profile closely matched the project personas each completed the same benchmark tasks and followed up tasks surveys.

Purpose and Rationale of Interactive Prototype Usability Testing

Getting users involved at various stages of the design process is key to creating and developing usable systems. Various SFnight team members performed quick and simplified testing of the site at all stages of the prototype development while BESS team members performed expert heuristic evaluation for the second interactive prototype. The third interactive prototype represented substantial prototype development and implementation. The "reality check" of conducting usability testing is required at this stage in order to

• ensure that the overall design efforts have not veered off the goal of creating a usable system
• help validate or repudiate some design choices that the designers do not feel confident about
• help the designers discover further issues that are not addressed adequately by the current design and
• even help us find possible solutions to various problems that the users may experience while using personalized areas of SFnight.

^