What is Usability Testing in Singapore

3 min readJan 24, 2018

What is usability?

Usability is a combination of factors that affect the user experience of the product or system. Usability criteria include:

Easy to learn

How fast can users learn to use a system that they have never used before to accomplish basic tasks?

Efficiency of use

How much time does it take for the user to complete a mission-critical task once he knows the system?

Memory

When the user re-use the system, in order to effectively use it, he/she will remember enough?

False frequency and severity — How often does the system show errors? How serious are they? How can users recover from mistakes?

Subjective satisfaction

How does the user respond to the system? How does he/she feel about using it?

Usability definition

Consistency

An activity that elicits the same response in similar situations. For example, clicking on a hyperlink opens a pop-up window, but clicking a button takes you to a new screen.

Front-end or part of a software application or website that the user can see and manipulate.

Navigation

Users from one application or site to another place. It includes the structure of the menu — one, two or more levels, drop-down navigation (select an option from a drop-down menu), hyperlinks, and more.

Positioning

How the user knows his location in the application or website. User Orientation For future navigation, it is important to understand the “feel of the application” and easily correct navigation errors.

What is usability testing?

Usability testing is a systematic assessment of GUIs based on usability criteria.

Usability testing is a measure of a user’s quality of experience when interacting with a system (a website, software application, mobile technology, or any user-operated device).

What is the purpose of usability testing?

The purpose of usability testing is to determine the two aspects of user interface design.

Conceptual aspects — Key issues related to navigation, user orientation, and UI consistency

detailed design aspects — Follow GUI standards and guidelines, the terminology used, specific questions.

Once these problems have been collected, they will be prioritized according to their severity. In addition, for each major issue, it is proposed to make a redesigned proposal.

Usability testing methods

Laboratory experiments

Perform the test in a controlled environment. Users are introduced to the system and require that several key tasks be performed according to a pre-set scenario.

Usability testing may be performed on a real system, in a written prototype, or a presentation (eg, PowerPoint) that shows only the elements of the system under test.

The user’s activity is recorded using two cameras, one on the recording screen and one on the user’s reaction and expression. In addition, usability experts monitor usability testing and record any items of interest.

Observe on the spot

And laboratory experiments similar, but in the field implementation. It is usually operated in a system or environment that is so complex that it is difficult to replicate in the lab. Field observations may also be used to study user behavior in a real environment.

Onsite observation made it possible to study users working in their typical workplace environment.

The benefits of this type of testing make it less formalistic to the user about the test, and make it possible for a relevant long observation period. Informal settings help gather information from a real environment, not just from the existing scene.

Questionnaire

Used to receive detailed feedback from users as the system is used. This information is subjective and gives a good guide to how users use the system.

You can use an online questionnaire or written form.

The main benefit of the questionnaire is that feedback is based on the user’s subjective experience of using the system. It recognizes the usefulness and usability. It is possible to quantify this feedback and submit reports using specific data, such as “40% of users rate the new Intranet as 8 or more.”

Heuristic evaluation

A system evaluation of a user interface is usually performed by more than one usability expert according to a known standard (heuristics).

The main benefit of heuristic evaluation is that it allows you to identify serious problems at a relatively early stage. Heuristic evaluation is best performed before the end of the version and before the other types of usability tests.