Note from Karine: This year, I’ve asked all the eduWeb speakers working in universities/colleges to share in 140 words or less the biggest take-away from their presentation or table talk. If you’ve attended this session, feel free to weigh in by posting a comment, a question or a suggestion.
Ask most people who’ve launched a major web project how they did their user testing and you’ll likely get a blank stare, followed by a hastily constructed and somewhat “improvised” answer.
Why would otherwise bright forward-thinking folks ignore one of the most proven and important processes of a website redesign?
- fear of what they’ll find out
- fear of cost
- fear of losing time – getting off schedule
- fear of not knowing what to do with the results
Fear figures large – and with good reason.
Few have the intestinal integrity to take an objective critique of their “perfect” web product. But get on that Kevlar jacket and start asking! It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; user testing can be as simple as a survey, or as involved as a large-scale test with eye tracking.
The key is that you DO user testing before, during and after implementation. There’s a method for every budget and time frame.
Related posts:
- eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – Everything We Knew About Web Redesign was Wrong by Jaye Lawrence, Director of Web Communications at Carleton College
- eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – Aligning Web Strategies with Content Management by Daniel Auld, director of Technology Communications at Fordham Law School
- eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – You Have Faculty Using Technology to Market? Are You Kidding Me? by Dr. Greg Williams, Assistant Professor and Director at UMBC
- eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – Your CMS Implementation Can Be a Success by Tonya Price, Director of Marketing and Web Operations at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- eduWeb 2008 in 140 words – From Dull Edge to Cutting Edge by Amy Stevens, Web Communications Manager at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
shane on 
Even before jumping into the design, we did two series of testing: card sorting and wireframe testing.
Card sording gave us a informed look into building the new information architecture
Wireframe testing told us quickly what we needed to change in our labels and in the workflow.
All in all, user testing gave us the right arguments to use when everybody from the institution decided that they own a piece of the web site…
Martine Lafleur
Director, electronic communications
HEC Montréa;