Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests

by Jeffrey Rubin

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471594032
• ISBN13: 9780471594031
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Very handy advice

I'm a professional usability analyst, and I got some really useful tips when I opened up my copy of this book recently. More than ever its clear to me that Rubin is an experienced practitioner, with a sensible eye for what works.

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.

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.

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.

A nice start, inoffensive, practical

I'm a clinical-social psychologist by training; lots and experimental psychology and research design and analysis experience. Rubin really captures the basics of the scientist-subject without being overly complex, and he does it specific to software and similar assessment projects. His writing is clean, and maybe even simple. As such, I consider his efforts a success. However, the single volume is not sufficient. Combined with titles by Nielsen, Hackos, Redish, Cooper, Norman, etc., etc., as well as a *thorough* review of the journals (the profession is changing *so* rapidly), I think Rubin's book becomes more worthy, and more useful over time. Positive, is that it's a paperback; neutral is that it might be better as a spiral-bound; negative is that it is over-priced. It should be about $24.95.