Product Description

A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners… A daily tool of the trade for specialists… Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you’ll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.

• Requires no engineering or human factors training
• A rigorous, step-by-step approach—with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls—saves you months of trial and error
• Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries
• Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #581329 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 330 pages

From the Publisher
Presents a step-by-step approach to usability testing in today's fast-paced industrial production environment, where reducing time to market has become a prerequisite for survival. Contains chapter coverage for each of the six stages including numerous examples and case studies. Provides information on the politics and human elements of testing within an organization. Features plenty of inside tips and tricks to help ease the testing process.

From the Back Cover
A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners… A daily tool of the trade for specialists… Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you’ll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.

• Requires no engineering or human factors training
• A rigorous, step-by-step approach—with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls—saves you months of trial and error
• Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries
• Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade

About the Author
JEFFREY RUBIN owns a human factors consulting firm specializing in the analysis, design, engineering, and testing of computer-based systems for usability. His clients include AT&T Bell Labs, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. He was an early member of Bell Labs’ Human Performance Technology Center where he developed testing methodologies. A well-known speaker in the field, he has presented for The Society of Technical Communication and the Human Factors Society.

Customer Reviews

If you will be performing a usability test, read the book.
Mr. Rubin provides some of the principles of User Centered Design and explains how to perform a usability test session to ferret out some of the usability problems. A wonderful guide for someone who will be performing usability tests and would like to be able to refer to some guidelines, report formats, and technique suggestions.

Rock-solid introduction to usability testing.
The author provides a supermarket of information from which you can choose your approach and method for performing usability testing. I had a little usability-testing experience when I bought this book. It quickly gave me some ways to streamline my process, plus some ways to shore up my process where it was weak. The most important thing this book gave me, however, was an understanding of when to use "quick and dirty" usability testing and when to perform a more thorough study.

An excellent book for budding usability folks
This book is a very handy reference guide for anyone who is just getting into the field of usability, and will need to conduct their own studies. It has many nifty tips for test planning and lots of information those just starting up in the field.