Tec's soup

The previous week, I posted part Two of this article.

Tools Which Facilitate (partially) Synchronous Remote Usability Testing:

Here I will be listing some of the tools which in some way would aid in conducting Synchronous Remote Usability testing. Most of the tools will only fulfill some of the requirements listed previously or only implement partially the methodologies above.

Online Conferencing Systems:
These tools allow screen-sharing and remote control of mouse movements and the keyboard.

• Cisco Systems WebEx
• Microsoft NetMeeting
• Yuuguu

Although those tools allow you to observe and control tests sessions they come with a few flaws:

• Test-users are required to install the client software on their own system
• Firewalls may block the software (5% of test-users experience this problem)
• Real-time amendments of the prototype is not possible
• The moderator can’t use his machine for other tasks whilst conducting a test (making notes is not possible)
• Latency problems
• Test-user can not work on a familiar desktop environment

Screen Capture Software:
These programs allow virtual recording of the test-users screen. Test sessions can be recorded and stored but hardware configurations are often insufficient which leads to lagged test results.

• Camtasia by TechSmith
• Cam Studio
• iQuick Screen Capture

Video Conferencing Tools:
Video conferencing tools (Skype, MSN Messenger etc.) allow the moderator and test-user to communicate via live audio&video feeds. The downside is that the client software needs to be installed on both system. Also specific testing of prototypes is not possible and would require additional software which use-up additional bandwidth and system memory.

Presentation Softwares:
MS PowerPoint is a great tool for static presentations, is however limited in it’s collaboration and sharing features.

Video Editing Tools:
You can also create video snippets of your presentations ( MS MovieMaker, Adobe Premiere etc.) but it is a lot of hassle and will surely put you off quickly.

Online Questionaires:
Online questionnaires created with Google Form or Surveymonkey are great applications for getting quantitative feedback on your product. It is however difficult to organize and match the feedback to the right user and test session.

Since this overview on incomplete tools for Synchronous Remote Usability Testing tools could go on forever, I do not wish to withhold the solution for you guys!
A little self-promotion will follow:

pidoco° Usability Suite:
The pidoco° usability suite is an online, web-based collaborative platform which allows to create, share and test prototypes in an instance. It is a tool which combines rapid prototyping of fully interactive prototypes and has powerful collaboration features:

• Prototype Creator (creates realistic & fully functional prototypes via drag&drop)
• Reviewer (allows asynchronous work-flow and feedback collection)
• Remote Usability Tester (Synchronous Remote Usability Testing with screen-sharing, live audio-feed and mouse-tracking)

Conclusion: 

It is possible to conduct user tests at an early stage. The aim for every company is to deliver their product on time and with the least hassle possible. Every year thousands of agencies spend a fortune on running all sorts of tests and still deliver products with flaws which need later amendments. The problem is that early-on, qualitative feedback is needed yet often not achieved due to budget limitations.

Technology allows us to connect to connect to people around the globe, so why not use this opportunity to run usability test session online. It will save us the cost of travel, give the test-user the comfort of staying in his home or at his workplace and create a greener world for all of us!

This weekend we added two new features to the pidoco Prototype Creator: colors and permalinks. From now on you can choose the border and fill color for rectangles and ellipses to highlight certain areas of your prototype. We also added a semi transparent grey filling which you may use to create overlays and modal dialog boxes, similar to what you see on the screenshot.

For the second new feature we slightly modified the invitation dialog and added a new feature to the invite menu entry. In this new dialog you get three links, one points to a png image, one to the sketched html, and the third to the plain html version of your prototype. You can choose the page they will point to and copy paste the link into your wiki or send these links via chat to your colleagues.

The first European UXcamp will open the ticket lists on next Wednesday, 3rd of March. Be prepared to register and grab your ticket since we expect the tickets to be gone rather soon. However, there will be two separate lists, one for all Germans and one for our international guests, so there should be enough tickets for all foreigners. If you need some advice for booking your trip, please don’t hesitate to ask us.

To all of you who plan to give a presentation or workshop, please have a look at our Session Forum and add a note on what you want to talk about. We hope to see some very exciting sessions!

This weekend, we added some new things to pidoco. First, you can now pay in dollar directly with a fixed price. Since many of our test users live in the USA, we thought this might support you. There are no more exchange rates to consider or some special fees from your bank for paying in Euros. Prices start from $9 per month and user. You may want to have a look at the complete pricing list. The free trial remains with 31 days which you can use to extensively test pidoco.

The second thing we added are custom stencils that you can create. We thought the most likely case is that you want to have elements in your own style. Therefore, all images that you upload or add via URL are automatically added to the stencil palette. From there you can use them just like you use the other stencils: simply drag them onto a page. That not enough, we made all images linkable. You can set a target just as you do for a button or a link. This way, you may create and use your very own buttons in a pidoco prototype. Since some pictures may be rather small, you can give them a name that is visible in the palette to distinguish similar looking images.

This is only the first step in adding custom stencils to your prototype. What would you like to be able to do regarding custom stencils? Let us know, either by leaving a comment in here or by adding your idea to our feedback forum.

To start a great new year we have rolled out a brand new product which nicely integrates with the Pidoco Prototype Creator: the Remote Usability Tester.

Take one of your prototypes and do a Usability Test with zero set up time. You start a test session by simply inviting anybody via an eMail just as you would do for letting them view or discuss your prototype. There is nothing more to do for technically preparing a test session. You meet your test participant online within pidoco and can watch exactly what he or she is doing with your prototype. Via either a typical phone or our integrated Flash phone you can talk to each other to apply proven Usability Methods like “Think Aloud Testing”, but this time online from wherever you are. During the whole test session, everything is recorded automatically for playback. Take your time and replay the session as many times as you need to analyze what your test participant did and said.

Using the Prototype Creator and the Remote Usability Tester at the same time, you can test small modifications to your prototype with a test participant watching you. This gives you the unique possibility to apply Usability Methods like “A/B Tests” or “Wizard of Oz Testing”. Prototyping and Usability Testing can go hand in hand for the very first time!

Read what others say about our Remote Usability Tester.

This not being enough, we also added a long requested export to Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org. With just one click you can add text notes to every element to specify and describe your prototype in great detail. All these notes are rendered into one document together with images of the Use Cases, Pages, and Layers of the prototype. All your discussions will be added to the document as well in order to keep track how design decisions evolved over time. Every single piece that is not visible on the pages is described in more detail, like link targets or menu structures. Special Highlight Images show the building blocks of your prototype. You can download a sample document of our homepage prototype.

Take the exported document as is or use it as a resource to write your very own specification document. We know it is a quite difficult task to create a document that satisfies everybody’s requirements. With this style of document we hope to support all of our users in the best possible way. However, please don’t hesitate to approach us with recommendations and ideas of how we can improve the word export.

Starting today, the word export is included for free to all our users. In case you don’t have an account yet, register for a free test account now.

Dear All,

we here at pidoco˚ love xmas and this is why we have a very special offer for you:

When you place an order for any of our plans, before Dec. 25th we double your uptime!!

Buy one month, get one free – buy 6 months, get 6 months for free!!

No matter how long you book in advance, we will double your booking period without any additional cost!

Simply click on the Santa on your right or go to: https://pidoco.com/en/xmas2009-en and sign-up for this amazing xmas deal!! Hurry!

Dear pidoco° users,

we have included a new payment option for you.
If you need pidoco° for a specific project which lasts for a fixed period (e.g. 2 months), you can now pay for that exact period and not have to worry about cancelling your subscription.
Simply pay for your desired time (starting from 1 month) and use pidoco° without worrying about cancellation periods.
Simple, effective and tailored to your specific needs!

Your pidoco° team

Dear everyone,

we usually work double shifts to make your pidoco° experience even better. Now, we are proud to present you with a few additional features and bug fixes! In order make make your prototyping & usability testing even better, we have included some features which should aid the overall communication with your co-workers.

From now on, when opening the Remote Usability Tester,  you will be able to re-play, fast forward and skip through the test session via the new timeline function.

It also includes the new annotations feature which can be used for making notes on-the-fly whilst conduction a Remote Usability Test. This way, it will be easy to jump back to the exact point in time where your test user experienced certain difficulties or where you think that specific changes are needed. Simply re-play your test session at a later point and jump straight to the annotations in the timeline -easy, quick and convenient!

pidoco° timeline function

You probably are know that the Remote Usability Tester is based on a live on-to-one telephone module which gives you the option to either use a normal land line telephone or the integrated FLASH module. Well, we have had several petitions and now we decided to include a real-time chat module. This way, you can run a usability test even if you do not have a telephone or microphone at your disposal.

real-time chat

Since we’re already talking about chatting:
in case that you are in need of further guidance, have some questions or if you simply are in need of human contact – why not chat directly with us? You now can make use of our integrated pidoco° chat where you can get in contact with us without needing to send out lengthy emails nor having to listen to our charming German accents over the phone!

chat with pidoco°

Last but not least we have dome some extensive bug fixing and you should notice a definite increase in performance when using the Prototype Creator.

We sincerely hope that you can enjoy the new features and the increase in performance and hope that your work-flow will be even better.

Your pidoco° Team