What is usability testing?

Usability testing encompasses a range of methods for identifying how users interact with something. AGConsult is specialized in evaluating web based solutions.

There are two methods of web usability testing:

• Expert usability testing
• Usability testing with users or user testing

Expert usability testing

Our experts analyse the usability of your web site, intranet, extranet or web based application, based on the 200 criteria of our usability matrix. This is also called heuristic evaluation or heuristic usability testing.

The quality of this kind of usability testing depends largely on the quality of the experts. Our experts have at least 5 years of experience with user testing before they do an expert evaluation. This is very important: despite the many books on usability and thousands of rules, theoretical knowledge is not enough. Only after seeing many users on many different websites is an expert ready to do a thorough evaluation without users.

   Our expert usability testing services

Usability testing with users

This method of usability testing involves observing individual users while they perform a number of tasks on your website, intranet or application.

In a typical approach, users — one at a time — use the website to perform tasks, while one or more people watch, listen, and take notes hidden behind a one-way mirror. Of course these tasks, or the user test scenario, are not random but based on typical tasks people perform on the website.

The AGConsult approach of usability testing is a bit more personal. It's not good enough to see what the user is doing, we need to know why he's doing it. In order to find that out, it's necessary that he tells us why he's doing certain things, and -even more important- why he's not doing something. What is he looking for? Does he understand everything? Because of all this, one of our usability experts sits next to the user. Not just to observe the user closely but to ask him questions.

   Our user testing services

Usability testing: when?

Usability testing should be done as early as possible in the process. Usability testing can be done on tree structures, paper prototypes, html prototypes ...
The sooner you do usability testing, the cheaper it is to change the design.