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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: May 03, 2003 Discount Usability: Time to push back the pendulum? -- "Discount usability techniques are a great way to eradicate usability problems. But they can never answer the question, "How usable is this system?" We blow the dust off some techniques commonly used in the early days of usability testing to see if they can provide an answer." (Comments: Thanks David Travis.)
Reader Comments...
So very wrong on so many levels... Thinking-aloud usability tests are a type of discount usability method?!? Discount usability techniques are a great way to eradicate usability problems?!? And of course, the entire article is written as if it is actually desirable to find how usable a system is, let alone that it is possible.
Uh, the article is most wrong with its title. A pendulum swings back anyway. It doesn't need to be "pushed," unless it has stopped completely. And if that were the case, you would be "pulling back" the pendulum. The dolt! Posted by: on May 4, 2003 11:07 AM
For the record, thinking aloud testing is indeed listed in Nielsen's book 'Usability Engineering' as a discount method. Posted by: on May 5, 2003 01:32 PM
And Nielsen is correct? The think-aloud protocol is used in lab-based testing as well. Don't have my copy of Nielsen's book on hand to check why he categorizes it so and in what context. Posted by: Ron Zeno on May 5, 2003 07:19 PM
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