You need a usability test that focuses not on ease of learning but on ease
of use and efficiency, not unlike testing desktop software.

For the web applications I have tested I focus on a few critical tasks.
These are either high-priority tasks for the user or tasks that walk through
elements of the design about which the design team is unsure. I provide user
documentation of 1-2 pages and have users read the documentation while I
observe as unobtrusively as possible. I learn a lot about users' mental
model and preferred nomenclature because they usually provide feedback about
the ideas contained in the documentation as well as the software.

The documentation gives a general overview of how to use the web app and is
NOT task oriented. It especially does not directly explain how to accomplish
that tasks I am asking users to complete. In some ways this violates
principles of good documentation; however, providing documentation that is
highly targeted would make the application usability test meaningless.

Howard


---------------------------------

|  H o w a r d   K i e w e  |

User Experience Consultant
4792 rue Dagenais, Montreal
Quebec, Canada  H4C 1L7

Tel:  (514) 485-6373
Cell: (514) 963-6373

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