Category: Testing

The Usability Toolkit is a collection of forms, checklists and other useful documents for conducting usability tests and user interviews. MS Office formats. See original article for extensive list. .zip archive of all files is also available.

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A list of resources, articles and do-it-yourself materials for those interested in usability and the user experience.

General

• Affinity diagramming: A simple but powerful technique for grouping and understanding information.
• Facilitation techniques: Tips for running successful workshops.
• Pre-publication checklist: A simple quality control checklist.
• Reading list: A selection of books on usability and related topics.
• Writing Usability Reports: Clear communication when reporting is crucial.
• Handling logged data: How to log and manage large data sets.
• Website Redesign: A case study illustrates suggested steps to take during a redesign.
• Designing for Children: A brief set of guidelines on designing for children.

Design

• Scenarios: A powerful and simple technique for describing user interactions.
• Paper prototyping graphics: A simple low-tech collection of user interface elements for paper prototyping.
• Documenting a user interface: How to communicate your design.
• Card sorting: Exploring how users group items, to help develop a usable structure.
• Participatory design: Conducting design sessions with all stakeholders is higly efficient.

Evaluation

• Conducting Walkthroughs: A simple paper-based multi-participant variation of usability testing.
• Usability Testing Materials: Schedule, guidelines and script – materials you can use when conducting tests.
• Conducting Usability Reviews: How to conduct a usability review (or heuristic evaluation).
• Web Evaluation Materials: Checklists for evaluating websites and online stores, and a sample report.
• Structure evaluation: A simple process for evaluating website or other information structures.
• Usability Testing: The gold standard in usability evaluation, usability testing is a relatively simple technique.
• Usability Testing Mistakes: Usability testing can be simple, but beware of some common pitfalls.
• Usability Review Materials: A simple format and severity matrix for use when conducting a review.
• Voice Interaction Evaluation Checklist: A checklist for evaluation voice user interfaces.

Articles

• The Myth of the Stupid User: If users are “stupid”, then we need to design accordingly.
• Usability for Technical Communicators: Technical communicators are well placed to engage in a usability role.
• Humans – A Designer’s Guide: The quirks and characteristics that present such a fascinating challenge to the designer.
• Apprehending the obvious: Why do organizations fail to take action based on what they already know?

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