Run usability tests on site browsing, commenting and registration

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Run at least three sessions to test the usability of a typical drupal blog
or small community site for anonymous users.

To do this you will need 3 or more volunteers who will evaluate drupal 6. 
It is important that everyone understands that drupal is being tested, not
the evaluator (your volunteers).  The evaluator can not pass or fail.

Ask each of the volunteers to browse a fairly-default drupal 6 site
anonymously, comment on it, search for an answer to a question hidden in an
old content item, find a specific article, find out some information about
a user, register, confirm and comment again.  Provide them with a scenario
and website that will inspire them to do it realistically.

You should write and provide more detailed scenario and more detailed tasks
for them to complete.  See the UMN formal usability testing plan [1] for
ideas on how to do this.  Your scenario and tasks should give the evaluator
a clear goal and help inspire creativity in writing, for example (which
incidentally is not being tested but is required to complete the
evaluator's tasks).

You will be provided an anonimized copy of the database of a website with
content, settings and permissions suitable as a starting point to make the
website to do the testing on.  You'll need to thoroughly test permissions
before running tests so that the website you provide allows the evaluator
to do the tasks.

To familiarize yourself with the tasks and usability tests and check the
website and tasks, it is useful to do your own test and report, before
running the tests with evaluators.  This will help you gain confidence with
finding issues and taking notes on them

The evaluator must be able to do all the tasks through drupal's UI and not
need to write any code or change files.

While observing new users, take note of:

 *  what the evaluator wants to do first
 *  where the evaluator gets lost or confused
 *  what the user expected
 *  where the evaluator spends their time in the first 30 minutes of the
session
 *  where the evaluator spends their time in the first few seconds of each
new UI / page
 *  when and where they search for help
 *  where they search for help

Perhaps the most valuable information from a usability test is knowing what
the user expected.  This makes it easier to discover usability bugs and
suggest solutions.  You should spend some time immediately after each test
(while it's still fresh in the evaluator's mind) debriefing the evaluator
to find out their answers to the above questions.  You might find that you
misinterpreted their behavior.  Some evaluators find this difficult and
begin to feel like they are being tested.  If this is the case, don't
pressure them to give you better feedback but help them to relax, remind
them no answer is right or wrong and ask simpler questions about how they
felt emotionally about the tasks they found difficult.  If the evaluator
can't give you good feedback then don't persist.  You still have notes from
watching their behavior, right?

Write a report that summarizes your findings. We're looking for a level of
detail and format similar to Factory Joe's Usability report [2] on drupal 6
beta 1.  See also the reports from GHOP tasks #8 [3] and #7 [4].

There are two completed GHOP tasks that are usability tests like this one;
#7 [5] (d.o [6]), and #8 [7] (d.o [8]).  Those tasks focussed on drupal
installation.  This task focuses on site browsing.

Before planning your usability tests read about how to do usability testing:

 *  http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000183.php
 *  http://openusability.org/
 *  http://keycontent.org/tiki-index.php?page=Usability+Tools
 *  http://factoryjoe.pbwiki.com/FeedbackForDrupal6

Deliverables: This task is complete when the report has been submitted to
by the student, and reviewed and approved by the mentor or other
appropriate drupal community member.  The report should be made available
in a widely available format like plain text, html or PDF.  

You can include screenshots for bonus points.  These could be annotated
using flickr's annotate tool.  (Tag them with drupalui [9] if using flickr.)

Bevan [10] is the owner / mentor of this task.

[1] UMN formal usability testing plan http://groups.drupal.org/node/7929
[2] Factory Joe's Usability report
http://factoryjoe.pbwiki.com/FeedbackForDrupal6
[3] #8 report http://swizzy.frih.net/projects/52/drupal-usability-test-report
[4] #7 report http://ijailbreak.com/drupal.html
[5] GHOP #7
http://code.google.com/p/google-highly-open-participation-drupal/issues/detail?i
d=7
[6] d.o #7 http://drupal.org/node/197219
[7] GHOP #8
http://code.google.com/p/google-highly-open-participation-drupal/issues/detail?i
d=8
[8] d.o #8 http://drupal.org/node/197221
[9] drupalui tag on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/drupalui/
[10] Bevan http://drupal.org/user/49989

Original issue reported on code.google.com by b.ru...@gmail.com on 19 Jan 2008 at 3:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Work location: http://drupal.org/node/211814
Task idea / source / forge: http://drupal.org/node/211341

Original comment by b.ru...@gmail.com on 19 Jan 2008 at 4:03

• Added labels: DrupalIssue-211814

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by acli...@gmail.com on 23 Jan 2008 at 2:51

• Changed state: Deleted