How to Test Your Web Site Usability

How to Test Your Web Site Usability

Copyright 2002 Herman Drost



When designing a web site, you are never sure how it appears to

all people. This is because people use different browsers,

resolutions, computers and connection speeds to the Internet.

Your site may look good with your browser, but absolutely

horrendous in other browsers. This is why you should test the

usability of your site, before you expose it to the world.



What is usability testing?



This indicates the ease with which folks can use your web site.

Let's look at a few usability factors.



Who is winning the browser war?



Here are the browser statistics:


39% Internet Explorer 6.0


51% Internet Explorer 5.0 2%


Internet Explorer 4.0


3% Netscape 4.0



A few years ago Netscape was the dominant browser, however

Internet Explorer now has 80% of the market. With the

introduction of Netscape 6.0 and 7.0 (their latest release),

this may eat a little into IE's market.



The latest browsers support the latest designing technologies,

such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1, CSS2) and XML.



Installing different browsers



Test your web site in different browsers, so your web site

can be seen by as many people as possible.



Internet Explorer

Download Internet Explorer 5 and 6.

The way to do this is to either have each one installed on

a different computer, or to have 2 operating systems on your

computer. You can do this with partition magic.



Trying to install IE 5 & 6 on the same operating sysytem doesn't

work. One overrides the other.



Netscape

Download NN 4.79 and 6.2. You can install them on the

same operating system as Internet Explorer.



Other browsers

The Opera browser

This is often known as the "third browser" after Internet

Explorer and Netscape. It has received international

recognition for being faster, smaller and more standards

compliant than other browsers.



Kmeleon

This is a simple, efficient, fast browser that loads very quickly.

This is because it is an unbloated browser. If your web site

looks good in this browser, it will look fine in Netscape.



Test for different resolutions.



Just because your site looks great with your computer set

to a resolution of 800x600, it doesn't mean it will look good

at a 1024x768 resolution. Often your web site may be hard

to read or aligned to the left or right of the screen.



Here are the statistics:

1024 x 768 resolution 44%

800 x 600 resolution 50%

640 x 480 resolution 3%



To test your web site in different resolutions, go to start –

settings – control panel – display – settings – slide the

pointer to the resolution you want.



Test for connectivity speeds.



You may be proud of your fast DSL, satellite or cable

connection to the Internet, however still most Internet

Users still connect via the modem. Connectivity speed,

determines how fast your site will load. If it contains

many graphics, which have not been optimized for the Web, you

may rapidly lose the patience of your visitors. They will click

elsewhere.



Sources

Web Browser Statistics



http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/

browsers_stats.asp

http://webdesign.about.com/cs/statistics

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat.htm

http://www.webreference.com/stats/

browser.html - daily summary

of browser statistics.

http://www.anybrowser.com - tests your site in different browsers

(not always reliable).



Browser Downloads

Internet Explorer

Netscape

Opera

Kmeleon



Checking your web site's usability can generate more traffic to

your site. It may take you a little extra time and patience,

but you can be assured you are reaching and pleasing a wider

audience.