Lab Resources: Think Aloud Protocol and Card Sorting

In light of today’s lab exercises (or should I say, “trips to Home Depot ”;), I thought you might be interested in learning more about the think aloud protocol and card sorting, two easy — and generally cost-effective — methods for testing a product’s design.

First, check out this video demonstration for a think aloud testing session:

Note: In the Vimeo demonstration, the testing session is done remotely. This means that with just a 30-minute Google+ Hangout or Skype videoconference, your remote test users can offer you a wealth of new insights about the usability of your product.

Second, a quick tutorial on card sorting:

Lecture Summary: Accessibility

Yes, this topic is covered on the final exam.

Please see the slides below.

Lab Summary: Writing for the Web

Today in lab we looked at Writing for the Web. We used the inverted pyramid writing style to shorten text on a page. The most important information should be at the top (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How), with less important information at the bottom. It is important to omit needless words since users generally scan a page instead of reading every single word. For review, be sure to check out this earlier post for more information.

Lab Summary

During the past few labs we have covered Typography, Color, and Navigation. Be sure you understand these concepts for the final exam.

So far our exercises have been using various CSS techniques to style a page. Below are links to the lectures, as well as additional resources.

Typography – Lecture, w3Schools @font-face, @font-face,  CSS @font-face, Font Squirrel, dafont.com

Color Schemes - Lecture, AdobeKuler

Navigation – Lecture, CSS Menus