Testing & Evaluation

Usability testing measures how well people can use a particular product or a website.

The aim of usability testing is to create real-world conditions where a product might be used. This will show:

• what did not work

• what could be done better

Usability testing can show problems with a design at an early stage.

Aspects of Usability Testing

• Persona – a persona may relate to the experience or age of a tester.

• Test cases – a set of steps that seek to test a specific feature of the website.

• Scenarios – A test scenario would be a task that the tester would be given (e.g. buy a ticket)

The parts we test with usability testing are low-fidelity prototypes.

By observing the behaviour of the tester, you will be able to understand how it can be improved.

The use of a low-fidelity prototype helps to eliminate design problems at an early stage, before time, effort and money has been spent implementing the design.

A number of tests should be carried out on the website to ensure it meets the functional requirements. These include:

Input valdidation

• Ensure that any data entered into a form can be accepted and then if incorrect data is entered, it is accepted with the correct validation.

Links and navigation

• Test the navigation bar, internal links and external links work correctly

• Test that all pages can get back to the home page

• Test to check if there are any orphan pages (pages that are not linked to any others)

Media content

• Ensure that all text, graphics and video are displayed and in the correct position in the design.

Browser testing

Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera etc. May display your website differently; your customers will not use your website if it does not function properly on their chosen browser.

Device type

Check that your website is accessible on tablets, smartphones, laptop and desktop computers; there are so many different types of hardware with different size screens available.

Common problems

Changes in font size, user interface, alignment issues, changes in CSS style and colour, scroll bar related issues, content or labels overlapping and broken tables or frames.