Apply usability inspection methods to identify usability problems either before usability testing or as a low-cost alternative.
Usability inspection can be done using individual or combined methods and analysis listed below. Click the links or scroll down for more details.
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What does it involve? Checking if features of a user interface satisfy a set of heuristic guidelines. Features that violate guidelines are scored in terms of their seriousness. It is normally carried out by more than one usability practitioner as its effectiveness has been shown to depend on the number of reviewers. There are different sets of heuristic guidelines available - some focussing on general user interfaces and others on more specific user interfaces.
Why should you do it? To identify general usability issues and suggest improvements. It's a quick and inexpensive method for evaluating a user interface. It should be ideally done before usability testing. However, if usability testing is not possible, this can be used as a less effective alternative.
What does it involve? One or more evaluators walking through a set of tasks with a user interface. These tasks are what users are expected to carry out and chosen because of their importance. At each step, the evaluators pose a set of questions about whether the product supports them in carrying out the correct actions to achieve the subtask. These questions are aimed at finding out if a user will understand what to do next and what outcomes to expect at each step of the task. There are variations of the cognitive walkthrough method differing in their focus on the type of product and context of use.
Why should you do it? This is a task-focused method for identifying usability problems. It's well suited to evaluate how well a product supports new or unpractised users in carrying out a specific set of tasks. It's used in the product development stage to evaluate whether new users will be able to understand and carry out particular tasks with a product.
What does it involve? An evaluation by a usability expert using their knowledge of best practices, design guidelines, usability heuristics, practical usability experience and usability relevant knowledge from fields such as human-computer interaction and psychology. This kind of evaluation is not tied to a set of heuristics. Instead, the usability expert can apply their knowledge in a more flexibly and context-dependent way. Design and best practice guidelines used in expert reviews are usually more concrete and specific than established heuristic guidelines. Reports identify the seriousness of uncovered issues together with recommendations and best practice information.
Why should you do it? To evaluate designs or developed products before usability testing or instead of usability testing if this is not possible. Expert reviews may pick up issues undetected by the use of heuristic evaluation alone. The method requires a single usability expert rather than multiple reviewers.
What does it involve? Assessing UX related features of web products using automated tools. These tools can be used to assess issues such as accessibility, load time, and visual salience of websites.
Why should you do it? Such tools may be used on an as-need basis to compliment expert reviews. The tools provide an objective assessment that can be used to help uncover and benchmark issues.
What does it involve? Using data from web analytics platforms such as google analytics and Hotjar to help evaluate the usability of web-based products. This can involve analysing the behaviour (e.g. drop-off rates, click-throughs, user flows, etc.) of different types of user traffic as well as individual session recordings.
Why should you do it? It can be used to support the discovery of usability problems and test hypothesis about the impact of usability issues identified through usability inspection methods. This is a valuable source of real user data usually involving statistically reliable numbers of users.