Another round, another group of testers.
Why do I like user testing? Well, for one, it’s social. I get to meet new people. I like the interaction and fun of discussing the concept of Cocoon with people that rarely think about what it means to be on the Internet. Most of all, I like seeing what people can do with the test version of Cocoon.
Our testers come from a wide range of backgrounds — as young as 13 and as old as 60 — people that can make a computer do back-flips, and others that can barely check their email. By the end of the night, our testers have taken their Cocoon experiences in entirely different directions. But they always, always get it. For some reason, Cocoon is easy to use. It’s all about good user interface design.
The testers feel challenged sometimes. We’re asking them to use software they’ve never seen before, sometimes to do things they’ve never done before. The UI needs to be simple, but powerful. Why have a bevy of menus when icons work just as well or better? Why stash history in long lists when the data could be viewed easily as collections of thumbnail images?
The changes to the basic browsing experience really seem to resonate with people. And, if something isn’t working right, if the testers don’t understand something in the user interface, we get a ton of insight on how to change it. That’s the part I love the most. What the testers say and do has a direct effect on how our interface feels, what it looks like, and how it works.
Tags: uability testing, user experience
