My library is about to launch into a series of quick usability testing
sessions next week for our website.  In terms of software, we wanted to do a
screen and audio capture, but the programs we experimented with were not
sufficiently stable or responsive to fit into our workflow.  There was far
too much risk of the software crashing, or taking forever to compile a
video, or leaving us with a flashing green/white screen (very unpleasant)
that we decided to just use audio capture (based on Window's native Sound
Recorder).

Our general strategy is to set up at a table in the library lobby, and offer
free drinks at the café in exchange for a 10-15 minute usability testing
runthrough (10 questions on the activities our surveys and webstats show are
most important).  We'll do 2 hour sessions each day for 7 days, varying the
time and location to catch as wide an array of people as possible.  Each
session will be operated by two web committee members; one will ask the
tester questions, and the other will record their observations.

I've been experimenting with heatmap.js[1], and hope to find a way to
aggregate and incorporate that data at some point, too.


-Ian
UMass Amherst Libraries

1. http://www.patrick-wied.at/static/heatmapjs/

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Shaun Ellis
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 11:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] usability testing software

Usability Testing Lab?!?  Awesome!  I'm curious about your goals and your
process... are you looking to publish your results?

I guess why I'm asking is because I pretty much drank the Kool-aid on the
more ethnographic "discount usability testing" + "rapid prototyping" 
approach, followed by using Google Analytics to try to get gather
quantitative "real-life" stats as we make improvements.  I can definitely
see the usefulness of having more resources for usability testing though.

I'm surprised that none of the suggestions do A/B testing.  It seems like
that would help settle the never-ending debate in "web committees" 
around labels and vocabulary.

-Shaun

On 1/31/13 10:35 AM, Nate Hill wrote:
> Hi all,
> Years ago I had the opportunity to use Morae to do some usability testing.
> http://www.techsmith.com/morae.html
> I may have an opportunity to put together a little bit of a usability 
> testing lab at my library, and I wonder if anyone can suggest a 
> similar product but...
> I'd like it to run on Macs.
> Suggestions?
> thanks
>


--
Shaun Ellis
User Interace Developer, Digital Initiatives Princeton University Library