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Usability Testing of World Wide Web Sites

First Paragraph: Building a medium or large World Wide Web site, whether for distribution over the Internet or over an intranet, can and should be viewed as a major software development effort. As in any other software development project, a central role must be played by task experts -- in this case staff familiar with the content being presented. Staff versed in traditional publishing can also contribute a great deal. But designing a structure sufficient to hold hundreds or thousands of static documents and possibly scores of embedded applications, not to speak of configuring and maintaining a Web server, building and maintaining a document repository, keeping hypertext links up to date, or writing and maintaining Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts and Java or ActiveX applets, is what systems analysts are trained to do.

Comments: This article describes several usability testing techniques employed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in evaluating their public access websites over the past few years. The techniques analyzed are card sorting, heuristic evaluation, scenario-based testing, user satisfaction questionnaire and system logs mining.

Author: Michael D. Levi and Frederick G. Conrad

Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics

Issue/Date:August 23, 2002

URL: http://stats.bls.gov/ore/htm_papers/st960150.htm

Testing GUI Applications, part 1

First Paragraph: What programs can test graphical applications? As consultants, we recognize that a large part of our business is decoding what clients really want, but we are wary of this particular question, as it has a history of obscuring true goals. This two-part series will explore the quality assurance (QA) of programs with GUIs.

Comments: Part one of this two-part essay introduces GUI testing fundamentals and discusses some GUI testing approaches.

Author: Cameron Laird, Kathryn Soraiz

Publisher: itworld.com

Issue/Date:March, 2001

URL: http://www.itworld.com/AppDev/1262/UIR010316testinggui1/

The Web Shouldn't Be a Comedy of Errors

First Paragraph: Nothing says more about what you think of your users than error messages. The moment things go wrong is the moment users need you most. Software products, including some Microsoft® products, have developed bad reputations for cryptic error messages that are hard to understand or resolve. What's alarming is that Web site user interfaces are just as bad, or worse, in their handling of problem situations. We've taken a step backward in the baseline for acceptable treatment of our customers. Here's a short guide for handling errors well, on the Web or in Windows.

Comments: Testers probably see more error messages than the average user. These guidelines will help when reporting confusing messages.

Author: Scott Berkun

Publisher: Microsoft

Issue/Date:July/August 2000

URL: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms993292.aspx

Handling and Avoiding Web Page Errors Part 1- The Basics

First Paragraph: As Web pages continue to grow in functionality and complexity the need for good error-handling facilities also grows. Yet many of the Web pages I visit seem to be riddled with errors. Sometimes this is a matter of priorities--what's the value of gracefully handling errors? Even if the value is high, there is still the matter of familiarity with error-handling techniques that are useful for the Web. This first article in a three-part series goes back to basics--discussing the types of errors encountered by today's Web pages. The second installment will focus on handling my own pet peeve, run-time script errors (don't worry, you'll know what this means before we're through). I'll conclude the series with a host of error-prevention tips designed to save you from pulling out too much hair (hopefully your own) in frustration.

Comments: Although it's written by a developer to other developers, it is a very good resource for testers to understand Web page error handling, hence, the right set of test cases can be developed for Web-based applications.

Author: Michael D. Edwards

Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Issue/Date:January 29, 1999

URL: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms976140.aspx

Super Easy Usability Testing

First Paragraph: I am going to make this the absolute easiest introduction to usability testing you could possibly find anywhere. If you find a simpler introduction, email me, and I will make this one even easier.

Comments: Quick guide to usuability testing. Useful to anyone who has been assigned the task to conduct usability testing. The article introduces usability testing as a two step process to identify your users, and watch your users use your web site, products, and services. Take notes and listen.

Author: John S. Rhodes

Publisher: Webworld

Issue/Date:April, 1999

URL: http://www.webword.com/moving/easytesting.html

Debugging Your Code and Handling Errors

First Paragraph: No matter how carefully crafted your code, errors can (and probably will) occur. Ideally, Visual Basic procedures wouldn't need error-handling code at all. Unfortunately, sometimes files are mistakenly deleted, disk drives run out of space, or network drives disconnect unexpectedly. Such possibilities can cause run-time errors in your code. To handle these errors, you need to add error-handling code to your procedures.

Comments: This article offers tips on implementing and testing error handling from the developer's perspective. It gives testers a good understanding of how error handling is done at the source level.

Author: N/A

Publisher: Microsoft

Issue/Date:N/A

URL: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa716196(VS.60).aspx

Handling and Avoiding Web Page Errors Part 2- Run-Time Errors

First Paragraph: This article is the second in a three-part series about handling and avoiding errors on your Web pages. In the first article, I discussed several types of common Web page errors, and the techniques careful developers can use to eliminate them during the development phase — before real users start browsing their site. This article focuses on one particular type of Web page error that can't be completely eliminated before users browse your site:run-time errors. I'll discuss — in considerably more detail than the first article — what happens when run-time errors occur (from both the user and developer standpoints). Then, I'll explain the technical details for handling those unavoidable run-time errors. Finally, I'll go over two samples that demonstrate how to gracefully handle common run-time error scenarios.

Comments: This is the second paper of the three-part series that discusses the handling of Web page errors. Although it¹s written by a developer to other developers, it is a very good resource for testers to understand Web page error handling, hence, the right set of test cases can be developed for Web-based applications.

Author: Michael D. Edwards

Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Issue/Date:March 11, 1999

URL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/Author/

Fitts's UI Law Applied to the Web

First Paragraph: Interface design is difficult in part because everything requires interpretation. A design that works for one task or one user might not be appropriate for another. In other types of engineering, like architecture or bridge building, designers can always rely on laws of physics and gravity to make designs work. There is at least one immutable rule for interface design that we know about, and it's called Fitts's Law. It can be applied to software interfaces as well as Web site design because it involves the way people interact with mouse or other pointing devices. Most GUI platforms have built-in common controls designed with Fitts's Law in mind. Many Web designers, however, have yet to recognize the powerful little facts that make this concept so useful.

Comments: Discusses Fitts's UI Law and how it applies to designing.

Author: Scott Berkun

Publisher: MSDN News

Issue/Date:May/June 2000

URL: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms993291.aspx

Guerilla Usability

First Paragraph: You have design ideas for your Web site: you've researched your competitors' strategies, and you've read books and Web style guides to learn about the conventions for usable Web sites. But you're still not sure if your visitors will find the site easy to use. What now?

Comments: Recommendations to format and structure usability testing using user subjects. Covers everything from test design and testing environment setup to when and how to conduct tests.

Author: Mary Deaton

Publisher: cnet.com

Issue/Date:August, 2001

URL: http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-1044626.html

Testing GUI Applications, part 2

First Paragraph: In the first installment of this series, we outlined what it means to test graphical user interface (GUI) applications, and to what ends that testing is done. (See part 1.) Now we'll apply those abstractions to a model situation that illustrates a handful of the best testing techniques specifically applicable to GUIs.

Comments: Part two of this two-part essay describes specific GUI testing techniques such as using TCL/TK and COM aware scripting languages such as Perl and Python.

Author: Cameron Laird, Kathryn Soraiz

Publisher: itworld.com

Issue/Date:March, 2001

URL: http://www.itworld.com/AppDev/1243/UIR010323testinggui2/

Testing, Fun? Really?

First Paragraph: Testing. Yuck! Puh! Aagh! I've always hated testing. Testing, both unit and functional, is something that gets in the way of the "real" work. Everyone knows that their code is perfect, right?

Comments: This is a good article about best practices and why you need a good testing process in your organization.

Author: Jeff Canna

Publisher: Ibm.com

Issue/Date:March, 2001

URL: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-test.html

Handling and Avoiding Web Page Errors Part 3- An Ounce of Prevention

First Paragraph: This article is the third in a three-part series about handling and avoiding errors on your Web pages. My first article examined the various sources of common Web page errors. The second article showed how to handle run-time script errors on your Web site. Now, we're going to go over a host of techniques that you can use to avoid preventable errors on your pages — the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" couldn't be more true for Web page errors.

Comments: This is the third paper of the three-part series that discusses the handling of Web page errors. Although it's written by a developer to other developers, it is a very good resource for testers to understand Web page error handling, hence, the right set of test cases can be developed for Web-based applications.

Author: Michael D. Edwards

Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Issue/Date:April, 1999

URL: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms976146.aspx

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