Posted in Website Usability Testing	March 7, 2008

Mobile usability tests encourage distractions and an unstable environment

Like any website you'll ever build, there is a need for usability testing. Building a site for mobile users is like shooting in the dark unless you know what they're looking at and what they're viewing it on.

Paper Prototyping: This is by far the easiest way to prototype your mobile interfaces, because most mobile interfaces are simplistic. Read our article on Paper Prototyping.

Improv Prototyping: This can be done with a paper prototype or with a working prototype. A mobile user is much more likely to get distracted in real life on a mobile device than in a usability test, so this makes real-life mobile usability tests encourage distractions and an unstable environment. Uncomfortable lighting, background noise, movement and concurrent tasks are all welcomed.

Diary Studies: Ask users to keep a diary of how they use their existing mobile devices for at least a week. Ask them to write down any problems they encounter, sites they use frequently, and sites that they try and have tried and been discouraged by.

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Things to remember when conducting usability tests with mobile units:

• Less is more. Rather than displaying as much of your website as possible, try displaying category names at first glance. The second level can be your tips, and the third would be the tip. Pretend that it's 1994 and ask yourself how your site would have looked back then (before evil spawns "comic-sans" and "rotating gifs" of course).
• Make it feel natural. When creating a usable prototype, remember that the user will be holding it in their hands. If you are using a camera to test, try attaching the camera to a small wire that overhangs the device so that the user can hold, rotate and rock the device naturally and you are still able to see what they're doing.
• Test from concept to completion. We know you're in a rush to offer users your fancy new platform, but it's important that you do it right the first time. Make sure you are conducting usability tests at all stages of development.
• Variety is key. When you're testing the working prototype, make sure you are testing it on multiple platforms. What is pretty on the iPhone may not be pretty on the Palm Treo.
• Choose the underdog. Use the "least likely to succeed" model of your mobile devices when testing. This way you can make sure that "if it works on this, it will work on anything!"
• Know in advance which types of mobile units your audience is using. It's likely that is won't be an incredibly large list, but you should plan on testing with all of them.
• Remember user input. Mobile devices differ in screen size and layout, but they also differ in the ways that people input their information, whether it be a QWERTY keyboard, stylus, numeric keypad, or dial-wheel. These should all be taken into consideration when developing your prototypes.

Mobile prototyping should be taken as seriously as any other type of usability testing. You are reaching users globally, on many different platforms. In fact, you're reaching them on hundreds of different platforms, so make sure that the work you're putting into your form, you're also putting into your function.

Related Articles:

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