Introduction Moving Usability Testing Onto the Web.pdf

Moving Usability Testing Onto the Web Martin Svensson, Arnold Johansson, Anna-Lena Ereback, Kristina H??k, Jussi Karlgren SICS, Box 1263, S-164 28 Kista, Sweden. +46 8 752 15 00 {martins, arnie, annalena, kia, jussi}@sics.se Ivan Bretan Telia Research AB Vitsandsgatan 9, S-123 86 Farsta, Sweden. +46-8-713 51 40 Ivan.P.Bretan@telia.se Abstract: In order to remotely obtain detailed usability data by tracking user behav- iors within a given web site, a server-based usability testing environment has been created. Web pages are annotated in such a way that arbitrary user actions (such as mouse over link or click back button) can be selected for logging. In addi- tion, the system allows the experiment designer to interleave interactive questions into the usability evaluation, which for instance could be triggered by a particular se- quence of actions. The system works in conjunction with clustering and visualization algorithms that can be applied to the resulting log file data. A first version of the system has been used successfully to carry out a web usability evaluation. Introduction Usability testing is a difficult and costly process. One problem is to find subjects willing to take part in the experiments usability engineers set up. Another is to actually perform the testing, an often time-consuming and costly process. Once the data is collected, yet another problem is to analyze the collected data on user perform- ance and draw conclusions from the result. These problems are far from the only ones involved in usability test- ing, but they constitute major drawbacks that make most software developers reluctant to actually perform them. In a project named Traces, we have tried to tackle these problems through building a usability laboratory that will work remotely over the Internet. We want to test the usability of web pages, and, in an extension we see the possibility of testing other interfaces built using Java or other tools that allows for more interactive in