A while back I asked about single-page usability resources. I ended up doing a short test of some paper prototypes we worked up. I came up with three or four questions–mini-scenarios—to ask each participant. These tests don't last long (5 minutes), and, to be honest, we didn't learn that much. We did get some feedback that we plugged in to the next iteration, but compared to doing more in-depth studies, I didn't end up with that many insights.
I did learn one thing about testing prototypes: when you fake content, it needs to either be very realistic or very obviously fake. Representing an image with a crossed-out box in a sketch works well. But, we were using high-fidelity prototypes (Photoshop comps printed out) and made the mistake of throwing in a random image into a spot that should have had a realistic image with text and a call to action. This threw a number of users off. So, make it realistic or not, just don't land in the middle.
Mike Lambert wrote in to mention the EyeTools service. This looks pretty cool, if a bit pricey. Basically, they'll run an eye-tracking usability test for you, and then send nifty charts to show where people are looking.
Posted by Karl
June 25, 2005 10:52 AM