FrontEnd Guy //

Usability depends on the purity of the code

It is true that clean code is important for quality product development but not necessarily sufficient condition for achieving usability. Often expected of professionals in usability to be inspectors of clean code. Like a different type of technicians who assess and audit the quality of the code.

Usability testing = focus groups

Focus group and usability testing are not synonyms. These are two different ways to study. In usability testing to work with each participant individually and in focus groups – one group of several people simultaneously.

In focus groups there is a distort in results by a phenomena typical for groups of people. For example, every group of people quickly differentiate leader who impose his or her views and most members are willing to support his viewpoint. Precisely to avoid such problems and distort the results, usability tests are conducted in an individual session with each participant individually.

Usability testing to be done when the product is ready

Maybe exactly the word “testing” makes people look at it as a final exam which puts a definitive assessment of the site. This quite naturally gives the teams that develop a product or site, striving to achieve an excellent assessment of the exam. They displace the time of testing, finally, when all processes in the construction site are completed and all details – neat.

Much more useful for all is the test for usability to be considered as corrective feedback in the process of work as the architecture and functionality have not yet been developed. Best is to take place at the beginning and to test a prototype or model to find and remove the main structural and navigational problems.

Usability testing raise the cost of the product and extends the work

Yes, to increased costs can be reached if the usability is put at the end of the project, when everything is ready. The truth is that work on the usability of the product reduces costs to become cheaper development and maintenance. The main reasons:

- When testing with a team, members begin to better understand consumers, the more easily begin to take decisions during the design and development.
- Usability tests may show that some features are unnecessary or can be made in a more simple way. Reduces the scope of product, price and time.
- A product with good usability is quicker and easier to use and learning. Customers more easily begin to use it, accordingly have less need of training and less support call.
- A product with good usability exactly meets the needs of consumers.

Source: Lucrat.net

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