Posting Date: August 27, 2002

Choose Your Usability Approach Wisely (.pdf file) -- "Online Usability Testing is all the rage these days and usability professionals are fiercely debating the relative merits of online testing vs. traditional lab-based testing. In fact, Jakob Nielsen calls these online systems "voodoo usability," but we think that online testing can be a valuable element of a total usability program. They key issue in all cases is picking the right tool for the job at hand. Our article in Quirks Magazine offers help with this decision."

Reader Comments...

Here's some real help with the decision: "High-Tech vs. High-Touch: Some Limits of Automation in Diagnostic Usability Testing" http://www.htamler.com/papers/techtouch/

Posted by: Ron Zeno on August 28, 2002 12:08 AM

Thanks Ron, I have never thought of Usability Engineers as Psychotherapists before.

I would agree with this article (Ron's link) that a combination of automated methods and skilled moderation could be the best solution, but I fear that when an organisation makes a choice then automation seems to win, mainly because it can produce prettier graphs and can 'appear' to be more cost effective.

Posted by: Mac on August 28, 2002 09:07 AM

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