A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners. A daily tool of the trade for specialists. Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you'll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.* Requires no engineering or human factors training* A rigorous, step-by-step approach--with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls--saves you months of trial and error* Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries* Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade

Whether it?s software, a cell phone, or a refrigerator, your customer wants?no, expects?your product to be easy to use. This fully revised handbook provides clear, step-by-step guidelines to help you test your product for usability. Completely updated with current industry best practices, it can give you that all-important marketplace advantage: products that perform the way users expect. You?ll learn to recognize factors that limit usability, decide where testing should occur, set up a test plan to assess goals for your product?s usability, and more.

Whether it?s software, a cell phone, or a refrigerator, your customer wants?no, expects?your product to be easy to use. This fully revised handbook provides clear, step-by-step guidelines to help you test your product for usability. Completely updated with current industry best practices, it can give you that all-important marketplace advantage: products that perform the way users expect. You?ll learn to recognize factors that limit usability, decide where testing should occur, set up a test plan to assess goals for your product?s usability, and more.

To paraphrase a popular saying, usability testing should be done early and often. However, it doesn’t have to be an onerous process. Informative, practical, and engaging, Usability Testing of Medical Devices provides a simple, easy to implement general understanding of usability testing. It offers a general understanding of usability testing and reviews key concepts, highlighting the challenges of validating that protects against dangerous errors that could lead to patient injury and death. The book has been carefully designed to be concise and visually, easily read in one sitting or perused from one section to another as needed It begins with a review of human factors engineering and how usability testing fits in, and then discusses the government regulations and industry standards that have motivated many medical device manufacturers to conduct usability tests. It then covers the nitty-gritty of planning, conducting, and reporting the results of a usability test, making the process as smooth and painless as possible for the development team, and therefore making the medical devices they develop as safe, effective, and appealing as possible.As you read the book, keep in mind that, like snowflakes, each usability test is unique. And while 100 usability specialists working independently might take 100 different approaches to testing, albeit with considerable methodological overlap, there would also be meaningful differences that the practitioners would energetically defend as the best given the circumstances. To make your testing process easier, the authors, seasoned human factors specialists who have conducted thousands of test sessions involving medical devices used by physicians, nurses, therapists, technicians, and patients, have painstakingly put together an informative, practical, and engaging handbook for conducting usability tests of medical devices.

Do you love your mobile phone? Your MP3 player? Your e-book reader? You laptop or tablet PC? There's a reason for that. Usability. When usability testing is part of the design and development of products, the results are better products that users want and like. You may be doing testing now or want to help your company get started, but you may not have all the tools to know how to properly prepare, test, analyze, and measure the results across a multitude of cultures, generations, and countries. And you may be facing tight budgets and short timeframes for testing. If this is your situation, this essential handbook gives you a variety of options and strategies for testing in numerous situations. Usability Testing Essentials presents a practical, step-by-step approach to learning the entire process of planning and conducting a usability test. It also explains how to analyze and apply the results and what to do when confronted with budgetary and time restrictions. This is the ideal book for anyone involved in usability or user-centered design-from students to seasoned professionals. *Provides comprehensive coverage of all phases of usability testing *Fully updated four color edition features important usability topics such as international testing, persona creation, remote testing, and accessibility *Follow-up to Usability Testing and Research (9780205315192, Longman, 2002), winner of the highest-level award from the Society for Technical CommunicationProvides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to usability testing, a crucial part of every product's developmentThe fully updated four-color edition now features important usability issues such as international testing, persona creation, remote testing, and accessibilityFollow-up to Usability Testing and Research (9780205315192, Longman, 2001), winner of the highest-level award from the Society for Technical Communication

Do you love your mobile phone? Your MP3 player? Your e-book reader? You laptop or tablet PC? There's a reason for that. Usability. When usability testing is part of the design and development of products, the results are better products that users want and like. You may be doing testing now or want to help your company get started, but you may not have all the tools to know how to properly prepare, test, analyze, and measure the results across a multitude of cultures, generations, and countries. And you may be facing tight budgets and short timeframes for testing. If this is your situation, this essential handbook gives you a variety of options and strategies for testing in numerous situations. Usability Testing Essentials presents a practical, step-by-step approach to learning the entire process of planning and conducting a usability test. It also explains how to analyze and apply the results and what to do when confronted with budgetary and time restrictions. This is the ideal book for anyone involved in usability or user-centered design-from students to seasoned professionals. *Provides comprehensive coverage of all phases of usability testing *Fully updated four color edition features important usability topics such as international testing, persona creation, remote testing, and accessibility *Follow-up to Usability Testing and Research (9780205315192, Longman, 2002), winner of the highest-level award from the Society for Technical CommunicationProvides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to usability testing, a crucial part of every product's developmentThe fully updated four-color edition now features important usability issues such as international testing, persona creation, remote testing, and accessibilityFollow-up to Usability Testing and Research (9780205315192, Longman, 2001), winner of the highest-level award from the Society for Technical Communication

Like the first edition, the revision of this successful Handbook responds to the growing need for specific tools and methods for testing and evaluating human-system interfaces. Indications are that the market for information on these tools and applications will continue to grow in the 21st century. One of the goals of offering a second edition is to expand and emphasize the application chapters, providing contemporary examples of human factors test and evaluation (HFTE) enterprises across a range of systems and environments. Coverage of the standard tools and techniques used in HFTE have been updated as well. New features of the Handbook of Human Factors Testing and Evaluation include: *new chapters covering human performance testing, manufacturing ergonomics, anthropometry, generative design methods, and usability testing; *updated tools and techniques for modeling, simulation, embedded testing, training assessment, and psychophysiological measurement; *new applications chapters presenting human factors testing examples in aviation and avionics, forestry, road safety, and software systems; and *more examples, illustrations, graphics and tables have been added. The orientation of the current work has been toward breadth of coverage rather than in-depth treatment of a few issues or techniques. Experienced testers will find much that is familiar, as well as new tools, creative approaches, and a rekindled enthusiasm. Newcomers will discover the diversity of issues, methods, and creative approaches that make up the field. In addition, the book is written in such a way that individuals outside the profession should learn the intrinsic value and pleasure in ensuring safe, efficient, and effective operation, as well as increased user satisfaction through HFTE.

Since the first edition of the Web Site Usability Handbook was published in 2000 there have been numerous changes in the technology world. After the Dot-Com bubble burst, corporate training and education budgets were cut severely and investment in new technology businesses slowed down. But today things have turned around again and behind the scenes at technology companies, usability specialists are still quietly working to make the electronic world easier to manage. This second edition provides the new insights and guidance needed to help make usability an effective and enjoyable journey. Every word from the first edition of this book has been revised, or at least heavily reconsidered; and in many cases, whole sections have been removed or rewritten entirely, while other sections are completely new to this edition. The casual and conversational tone of the fi rst edition has also changed because the current wave of usability specialists embodies a much higher degree of training and knowledge of basic science. The goals of the book, however, have not changed: to train those concerned with usability how to understand it as one piece of the large technology puzzle that is affecting and shaping the human and natural worlds. Usability is an art and a science, but it is also an obligation we have to society. Accessibility and usability form the foundation of human-enabling technology; that is, technology that serves us, rather than technology that we serve. Everything from understanding the human factors of design and how to generate user-centered designs to accessibility, usability metrics, heuristic evaluation, and testing are detailed. Whether you are a usability professional seeking methods for transforming data into change or a web designer seeking guidance for making your sites easier to navigate, you'll find information and practical tools you can apply to your own sites today.

Since the first edition of the Web Site Usability Handbook was published in 2000 there have been numerous changes in the technology world. After the Dot-Com bubble burst, corporate training and education budgets were cut severely and investment in new technology businesses slowed down. But today things have turned around again and behind the scenes at technology companies, usability specialists are still quietly working to make the electronic world easier to manage. This second edition provides the new insights and guidance needed to help make usability an effective and enjoyable journey. Every word from the first edition of this book has been revised, or at least heavily reconsidered; and in many cases, whole sections have been removed or rewritten entirely, while other sections are completely new to this edition. The casual and conversational tone of the fi rst edition has also changed because the current wave of usability specialists embodies a much higher degree of training and knowledge of basic science. The goals of the book, however, have not changed: to train those concerned with usability how to understand it as one piece of the large technology puzzle that is affecting and shaping the human and natural worlds. Usability is an art and a science, but it is also an obligation we have to society. Accessibility and usability form the foundation of human-enabling technology; that is, technology that serves us, rather than technology that we serve. Everything from understanding the human factors of design and how to generate user-centered designs to accessibility, usability metrics, heuristic evaluation, and testing are detailed. Whether you are a usability professional seeking methods for transforming data into change or a web designer seeking guidance for making your sites easier to navigate, you'll find information and practical tools you can apply to your own sites today.

The Web Testing Handbook is the definitive resource for testing Web sites and Internet-based applications. Many developers and testers are making the transition from traditional Client/Server, PC, and/or Mainframe systems to testing rapidly changing Web sites and applications. The Web Testing Handbook can help make this transition easier by explaining these new technologies and suggesting test cases and techniques that can be included in a Web site's Functional, Performance, Compatibility, and Usability test plans. Readers will gain an invaluable overview of the most common technologies being used to build Web sites and applications. You will learn proven tips and techniques for testing these Web technologies, obtain a reference of representative Web testing tools, and explore numerous case study checklists that demonstrate effective Web site/application testing. The companion Web site featured in The Web Testing Handbook opens a window into a hands-on, interactive Web testing environment. Readers who put into practice the testing tips and techniques covered in this book will gain real-world Web testing experience.