Week 11: Digital Protoype Test procedure

This is the procedure we used in the digital protoyping session in class and will repeat with real users in the next week.  Sessions are run a one-on-one, in-situ interviews and usability tests.  Encourage users to talk aloud as they participate.  Remember - it is the system being tested, not the user.

Pitch the concept:

Explain concept but don't give any specific instructions on how to use site.

Web standards are important to ensure that web pages display correctly in all browsers. Learning current web standards and how to comply with them are an essential part of learning how to write HTML and CSS. As web standards change over time, they depreciate old tags and introduce new tags and new features. One of the problems with archiving old websites (e.g. Trove, Pandora, Wayback Machine) is that even as web standards change, the archived websites still use the old, out-dated HTML tags.
Web Historians provides HTML/CSS beginners with a practical, interactive web application to familiarise them with correct syntax and layout, the concept of web standards, the process of validating code against the latest standard, in context use of HTML and CSS, and basic editing.

Task 1: Login stress test and workflow test

Ask users to familiarise themselves with the home page (index.php) and when they are ready, sign up, log in, and log out.
(tests the login system, workflow of log in/out and set-ups for the next task to see if the instructions/information on the home page are read)

Task 2: Working panel and accessing help

Ask users to log in with test account (tester/tester) and navigate to the test module for Cricket Australia. (tests navigation to working panel)

Questions:

• Did you read the instructions on the home page?
• Would you expect further instructions at this point?
• Do you know what to do on this page?
• What would make the errors easier to read?
• If you didn't understand an error, where would you look for help?
• For each web page, there are multiple modules (e.g. Cricket Australia has 8 modules) that all pertain to the one page.  When you add CSS to the CSS editor and save, would you expect to see your saved CSS when you progress to the next module (i.e. Module 1 to Module 2)?

Task 3: Use the working panel

Ask users to have a play with the working panel, they can edit HTML, add CSS, and re-validate.  Ask if they have any comments or feedback.

(Originally posted on our team blog: Restoring the web)