6 Cool Usability Testing Tools For Website Development

Time:2010-09-09 03:59:47 Source:Ezinearticles Author:Mia Cusack

Dump the rhetoric, get the facts

We all know that usability lies at the core of good web development. Unfortunately, when you start reading about it, you can wade through many thousands of words worth of rhetoric, and still not feel like you have a good grasp on the core concepts of usability... let alone how they apply to your web development! Sometimes it is much easier to just use a few tools to tell you where your website development is going right, and where it needs improvement. For those who don't want to become usability experts, here's the 'fast' way to test your website's usability.

Usabilla

This cutely named site allows you to do usability tests at different stages of your website development, and offers clear visualisations of the test results, and is available in over 20 languages. There are 5 steps to insight:

Create test

Select pages to be tested

Select predefined questions, or insert your own

Invite users

Analyze feedback

Five Second Test

Another neat name for a great web development tool for usability. The participants in most of these tests are website developers and designers themselves; and you can also participate in tests that earn you credits for unlocking premium site features. You can run A/B tests, optimise your landing pages and carefully place your calls-to-action using Five Second Test.

Usertesting

A less imaginative name, but great product nonetheless! This usability testing tool for the website development process is not free, but is very valuable. You get a voice recording as well as an on-screen recording of users making their way through different tasks on your site. There is a fairly limited panel of demographic options at the moment, but it is possible to set up tests with your own customers using the site.

Silverback

Prefer to do things in-house rather than over a website, with unknown people? You can download Silverback to use in-house. The program records voices and actions, like Usertesting, but you'll need to be there to moderate the tests. Also, this web development usability tool is only for Macs...

Clicktale

It's the story of your user's experience, recording clicks, scrolling and keystrokes on a website. The paid plans are more worth it, but remember that you don't get very detailed feedback - you need to draw your own conclusions for website development improvements from the actions that people take on your site.

Google Analytics

If you are re-developing based on an old website, Google Analytics will tell you quite a bit about what your users currently do, currently like, and currently don't like! There's no sense re-inventing the wheel when it comes to website development, and changes that are major and also unnecessary can actually be very harmful to your visitor satisfaction ratings. Implement Google Analytics before you set your new web development in stone... and then keep it on to help optimise your new website.

M. Cusack undertakes casual freelance writing for Lava Web Creations, a boutique Australian web and multimedia agency also with many years of experience in web development and online products. For professional and practical web development solutions, contact Lave Web Creations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mia_Cusack

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