June 20, 2005

Single page usability testing?

I've run a number of usability tests in the past, but I'm somewhat stuck with a current project. We're re-designing a single page on the site (okay, it's an important one, the home page), and I'd like to do some user testing in the paper prototype stage. But, I'm having a hard time coming up with scenarios that would work well for a single page like this. All the ideas I have seem like they'd be over in a couple of seconds. In other words, it would take me much longer to do the intro to the test than it would to do the actual test:

[Long-winded intro about how we're testing the site, not the user...]

"Pretend you're doing research for a term paper on the Civil War. Where would you start?"

[User points to a link.]

"Great. Thanks for coming in today. Here's a water bottle!"

Anyway, does anyone know of any good resources on conducting usability tests with just a single page? Most of the usabilty resources I've seen assume a more long-term interaction. Shoot me an email at weblog@karlnelson.net if you have any good resources or ideas...