Recommended Reading

• Arlov, Laura. GUI Design for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 1997.

  Chapter 17, "A Cookbook for Testing with Users," gives a good overall description of the user testing process and a detailed test script. It also gives useful information on how to handle difficult situations, such as what to do when a test user gives up on a task or decides to quit. The chapter also has useful information about creating test tasks.

• Bickford, Peter. Interface Design: The Art of Developing Easy-to-Use Software. Chestnut Hill, MA: Academic Press, 1997.

  Chapter 27, "Guerrilla Usability Testing," gives a brief summary of the user testing process. It also discusses the need to carefully interpret the results.

• Howlett, Virginia. Visual Interface Design for Windows. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.

  Chapter 3, "The Process for Designing Visual Interfaces," presents a brief design process based on prototyping and user testing.

• Microsoft Corporation. Designing for the User Experience. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1999.

  See the chapter on design principles and methodology for a concise description of usability assessment in the design process.

• Neumann, Peter G. Computer-Related Risks. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995.

  This book is based on the data gathered for ACM's International Risks Forum. From the point of view of user interface design, the most significant (and disturbing) trend is how often problems resulting from bad design are blamed on user error.

• Nielsen, Jakob. Usability Engineering. Chestnut Hill, MA: AP Professional, 1993.

  Chapter 6, "Usability Testing," gives a comprehensive description of the user testing process. It discusses all the issues raised here but in much more depth. This is the book on user testing.

• Shneiderman, Ben. Designing the User Interface—Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Third Edition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999.

  Chapter 4, "Expert Reviews, Usability Testing, Surveys, and Continuing Assessments," gives a good overview of user testing as well as other forms of user feedback such as surveys, acceptance tests, user interviews, focus groups, suggestion boxes, and newsgroups. The chapter contains a complete sample user satisfaction questionnaire.

• Tognazzini, Bruce. Tog on Interface. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1992.

  Chapter 14, "User Testing on the Cheap," does an excellent job of condensing the user testing process recommended by Apple's usability experts to a mere six pages. This chapter also presents an excellent case study of user testing in action.

• Weinschenk, Susan; Jamar, Pamela; and Yeo, Sarah C. GUI Design Essentials. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.

  Chapter 5, "Usability Testing," presents a detailed description of the user testing process. Among the subjects covered are the myths of user testing, identifying the scope of the test, planning the test, conducting the test, and analyzing the results.