So what did I learn from attending the Nielsen Norman Group User Experience conference in Amsterdam? Well, let's see:
To my boss's relief this is not all I've learnt. Maybe I can share some of my experiences with you:
Rolf is known for the four CUE (Comparative Usability Evaluation) studies he conducted. These studies involved groups of Usability Experts who were all given the same system to evaluate. Rolf then compared the results of the reviews to see if the groups of usability experts found similar problems in the system. Rolf said that using Jakob Nielsen's 10 Heuristics as the basis for your review is still one of the best techniques.
In the CUE4 study, Rolf asked 17 groups of usability experts to participate. Nine of the groups did testing with users; the other eight used expert reviews. The results showed that usability problems discovered using both testing techniques were almost the same. Rolf also found that one of the most profound impacts on the success of an expert review, is how much experience the usability expert has with real users.
Don has the amazing talent of taking everyday situations and "translating" them into interface designs. To him, the user experience must be a pleasurable one. He says that human beings are driven by the following three things: Perception (visceral), Expectations (behavioural), and Intellectual (reflective). It basically means that we usually only "speak" to the Intellectual part of the user. We should aim to accommodate the other aspects of the user's make-up. The initial impression of our interfaces should be inviting, the presentation must be good, and the user should want to discover new things and learn. It is about the user's total experience when he uses a product. This leaves a "good" memory with the user, which will ensure that he will want to return to your system.
Hoa has conducted a world wide study to determine how teenagers use the web. One of the most important findings was that designers make the wrong assumptions on what teenagers want from a website, and how they use it. The main findings were:
Jakob set out to see if the web usability guidelines of 1994 are still valid and adhered to by designers today. The reasons for this study were that technology has improved, users' behaviour has changed during the last ten years, and designers are showing more restraint.
Some of the guidelines that are still important are:
Technology improvements made the following guidelines less important:
Designers' awareness and skills have improved in the following areas:
In 1992, Bruce led a team at Sun Microsystems that built a video prototype of what computing life would be like in the impossible distant future: 2004. He showed the video of about 30 minutes, and then discussed if their predictions did in fact come true. Their successful predictions included:
As a direct result of this futuristic video, the following two products were developed:
All things considered, this day with the shorter presentations was the highlight of the conference. The final item on the agenda was a panel discussion, consisting of the four presenters, answering questions from the audience. The question that received the best response from the audience was to Jakob Nielsen. Someone asked him why his website, useit.com, was so ugly and boring. It was obvious from the audience's reaction that everyone agreed. Jakob's very simple reply was that if visitors to his site tell others what useit.com looks like, everyone is so curious that they have to go and take a look for themselves. He says this is a good way to attract visitors.
This tutorial dealt with paper prototyping. It was very well presented by Hoa, who has years of experience in this field. We watched videos of prototyping sessions with users, and had to create our own paper prototypes as well. The main reason prototypes of screen designs are tested on real users, is because what people SAY they do, and what they actually DO, are often two different things. With paper prototypes you can ask the user to perform the task, and see what his actions and reactions are in reality.
Something new I've learnt is that users have to sign an informed consent form before they participate in a prototyping session, as this is a form of user testing as well. As the tester, you are even allowed to have a page with an hourglass on it, which you can place in front of the user to indicate that the (fictitious) computer is busy processing - while you need to find something. You can even provide an "under construction" page, if you need to change a design quickly.
During the testing session, you can quickly determine how usable your interfaces will be by the number of times you have to explain to the user what he has to do. The more questions the user asks, the more usability problems the designs have.
The biggest benefit of paper prototyping is that it is cheap, and the designs are finalised and tested before the developer gets them. It does make a lot of sense.
We need to understand the resources required to execute the test plan as defined. Resources are more than the human resources that will be used; they include computer equipment, lab space, software, and other materials - like printing paper. This information is used to expand the work breakdown structure. When planning human resources, the required skills are important; a skills database that references all the available resources, with applicable skills, could simplify this task.
Beg, borrow or steal (or revert to even more drastic measures), but attend at least one international conference in your lifetime. It opens your mind to the way people from other cultures think and work. But the real eye opener is not really our differences, but our similarities. I found that most usability experts, from Korea through to the USA, experience the same problems, and have to deal with the same frustrations. One of the most common issues that surfaced is that usability freaks (like me) everywhere still battle to fully convince the hard-core IT professionals that there are real users out there that will not be able to use their systems. Seems as if functionality is still winning the battle over usability. The idea is that they get equal treatment, and from what I've seen in Amsterdam, usability is winning ground fast!
Oh yeah, one day when I am old and wrinkled and I am sitting in my rocking chair on the porch, I will remember the day I met Jakob Nielsen and had my photo taken with him - what a rush!
Antonet Bekker