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| Get Real Users |
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Get real users who are representative of your target audience. You cannot test with your colleagues or others who know too much about the project. The exception is intranets where your colleagues are the representative users. |
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| Use Real Tasks |
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Have users perform real tasks with the site. Don't simply have the users play with the interface. The true test of usability is whether a user can solve a specific problem. |
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| Set Usability Goals |
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Prior to testing users and giving them specific tasks, set usability goals and after the testing find out if your goals were met. For example, you want your users to be able to close a purchase or transaction within 2 minutes. Was the test user able to accomplish this? |
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| Do Not Interfere |
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Do not interfere with the user being tested. Observe the user and let them do the talking. Remember that users will usually not sit next to one of the designers when they visit your web site from their house or office. You want to see how they use the site under realistic circumstances. This means without help. |
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