USABILITY TESTING

• US 20130346950A1
• Filed: 03/15/2011
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: entIT Software LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Horovitz, Yair, Amichai, Nitsan
• Granted Patent: US 9,588,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/128
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/36 Preventing errors by testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3692 for test results analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3696 Methods or tools to render software testable

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, and systems are provided for usability testing. Usability testing can include recording, via a testing tool, actions of a user of an application and interactions of the user with the application 102/104. Usability testing can also include comparing, via the testing tool, the actions and interactions of the user with a baseline flow of actions for the application 106. Usability testing can include identifying, via the testing tool, a usability problem with the application based on the comparison 108.

Claims

1. A method for usability testing, comprising:

recording, via a testing tool, actions of a user of an application;

recording, via the testing tool, interactions of the user with the application;

comparing, via the testing tool, the actions and interactions of the user with a baseline flow of actions for the application; and

identifying, via the testing toot, a usability problem with the application based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes defining the baseline flow according to actions of an expert user of the application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein defining the baseline flow includes recording, via the testing tool, actions of the expert user of the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing with the baseline includes comparing the actions and interactions of the user with actions and interactions of other users of the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing with the baseline includes comparing the actions and interactions of the user with a baseline flow for a previous version of the application to discover a usability regression.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes identifying to the user, via the testing tool, a task to be completed in the application by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein actions comprise active input to the application via an input device, and wherein interactions comprise passive input to the application via the input device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing with the baseline includes displaying differences between a flow of the actions of the user and the baseline flow of actions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the usability problem includes aggregating recorded actions and interactions of a plurality of users to identify a portion of the application that resulted in a usability problem for more than a threshold of the plurality of users.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the usability problem includes aggregating recorded actions and interactions of a plurality of users to identify an action and/or interaction beyond those of the baseline flow of actions that occurred for more than a threshold of the plurality of users.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having machine-readable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by processor resources, cause the processor resources to:

identify a task for a user to complete in an application;

record actions and interactions of the user with respect to the application;

compare the actions and interactions of the user with a baseline flow of actions defined for the application; and

identify a usability problem with the application based on the comparison.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, if executed by the processor resources, cause the processor resources to present a question to the user in response to the user not completing the task or in response to the user requesting help completing the task.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein the usability problem comprises one of:

ineffectiveness of a flow of the actions of the user to complete the task;

inefficiency of the flow of the actions of the user to complete the task; and

dissatisfaction of the user with the flow of the actions of he user to complete the task,

14. The medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, if executed by the processor resources, cause the processor resources to identify the usability problem by identifying a time taken for the user to complete the task that exceeds a threshold time for the baseline flow of actions.

15. A system for usability testing, comprising:

a machine including processor resources;

machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the prose resources, cause the processor resources to;

identify a task for a user of the application to complete;

record actions and interactions of the user with respect to the application;

aggregate the actions and interactions of the user with results of usability testing for the plurality of users;

compare the actions and interactions of the plurality of users with a baseline flow; and

identify an action and/or interaction beyond those of the baseline flow that occurred for more than a threshold of the plurality of users as indicating a usability problem with the application based on the comparison.