Comments on: Findings from an Online Help Usability Test http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2009/12/findings-from-an-online-help-usability-test/ Technical Communication and Other Writing Topics, by Ben Minson Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:05:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Ben http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2009/12/findings-from-an-online-help-usability-test/#comment-435 Ben Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:00:11 +0000 http://www.gryphonmountain.net/?p=826#comment-435 The Web app is designed for a 1024x768 resolution, but some of the screens require scrolling. This results in screenshots that are tall enough to make any help text below them fall below the fold. The screen captures are less than 2/3 the size of the actual screen—big enough, I hope, that the users would be able to see the examples, but small enough to take up as little room as possible. The thumbnail idea is a good one. I'll look into that. Thanks for the suggestion. There were two main roles I was working with, but there are more granular permissions within one of those roles. (The other role corresponds to a single finance permission.) That particular participant happened to not have the permission needed for that task. Such are the problems with informal testing. I would love to get into spending more time on each project doing usability testing on the docs, so I hope to get better at spotting potential problems like this one. The Web app is designed for a 1024×768 resolution, but some of the screens require scrolling. This results in screenshots that are tall enough to make any help text below them fall below the fold. The screen captures are less than 2/3 the size of the actual screen—big enough, I hope, that the users would be able to see the examples, but small enough to take up as little room as possible. The thumbnail idea is a good one. I’ll look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

There were two main roles I was working with, but there are more granular permissions within one of those roles. (The other role corresponds to a single finance permission.) That particular participant happened to not have the permission needed for that task. Such are the problems with informal testing. I would love to get into spending more time on each project doing usability testing on the docs, so I hope to get better at spotting potential problems like this one.

]]> By: Mike Starr http://www.gryphonmountain.net/2009/12/findings-from-an-online-help-usability-test/#comment-434 Mike Starr Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:15:32 +0000 http://www.gryphonmountain.net/?p=826#comment-434 A couple quick questions... You said "The participants’ screen resolutions were such that the text didn’t appear below the screenshot, and most of the participants didn’t notice that they could scroll to get more information." Did the user system conform to the system requirements? If so, have you considered that in sizing the screen capture? You said "I skipped another task because another particular user didn’t have a certain required permission in the system." Was this a fluke or was there some flaw in the software installation that failed to establish the proper permission? I like the idea of having a clickable thumbnail for a full-sized screen capture popup. A couple quick questions…

You said “The participants’ screen resolutions were such that the text didn’t appear below the screenshot, and most of the participants didn’t notice that they could scroll to get more information.” Did the user system conform to the system requirements? If so, have you considered that in sizing the screen capture?

You said “I skipped another task because another particular user didn’t have a certain required permission in the system.” Was this a fluke or was there some flaw in the software installation that failed to establish the proper permission?

I like the idea of having a clickable thumbnail for a full-sized screen capture popup.

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