Experience with Digital Prototype and User Test (Week 11)

For this testing session the groups swapped members, so Lilly and I conducted the testing session. Well, I mostly observed and provided technical support. Lilly created a great document to run the testing session to make sure we got consistent feedback which can be found at this link 

While the prototype performed ok, I would have really liked if we had the CSS panel functional so we could have tested it also. But it remains a thorn in our side much like the dynamic saving and loading. There are still a few weeks left to go so hopefully we can get it all finish in time to add some polish before the final trade show.

I am confident though after this testing session that I have correctly implemented the log-in system and it will be usable for the final prototype. I just need to un-hardcode the data loading as the next step in the PHP chain the get us closer to final functionality.

I was hoping that testers would interact and play with the code a lot more during the testing session, but I guess they were excited to see what other teams were doing as well. Our project is not exactly the sexiest when compared to the Findamals game. Never the less peeking at other teams prototypes I think we are well on our way.

I was actually surprised by how little seemed to have changed in the Pinboards prototype there were a few more pages but the core functionality and using HTML5 canvas was not completed. The Truth Detective game was looking really good though, I really liked to cartoonish art style they were going with. 

Enough jabber, here are the results from the test again migrated from the team blog.

Here are the result of the Digital Protoype test session we ran in our contact session this week.  We aim to conduct the same test with real users in the next week.

Number of users: 5

Task 1: Login stress test and workflow test

• Would like log in to autofill after sign-up
• align font awesome icons

Task 2: Working panel and accessing help

Did you read the instructions on the home page?

• no but prior knowledge of product x2
• yes x2

Would you expect further instructions at this point?

• as a dev, would rather play first
• small tutorial maybe?
• no
• instructions didn’t cover working panel windows, this is what each bit is, need to understand layout

Do you know what to do on this page?

• yes
• where can i type?  looks a bit scary?

What would make the errors easier to read?

• grouped together, space between each error, numbering would be good, bullet points, checkmarks
• they are fine to read
• multi-line erros, where does one error end and another start, gaps between each error, alternting line colours, wrap in container

If you didn't understand an error, where would you look for help?

• google problem, not go to internal help
• help should not be at the bottom
• help should be modal or pop-out
• difficult to see help button, add '?' help to error panel
• put help with errors
• google, stack overflow is industry standard on how to look for help

For each web page, there are multiple modules (e.g. Cricket Australia has 8 modules) that all pertain to the one page.  When you add CSS to the CSS editor and save, would you expect to see your saved CSS when you progress to the next module (i.e. Module 1 to Module 2)?

• blank, prefer to start fresh each module
• carry over if part of same website
• frustrating to start over
• would copy and paste if not automatic
• yes, definetly

Task 3: Use the working panel

• would like ability to upload own images 
• html editor text small x 2
• html editor wrap text rather than scroll x2
• rather than make panels movable, put content in tabs, either
• errors thin at top, 2 tabs: html editor and css side by side; viewer, OR
• separate html/css/viewer separate tabs and errors visible all the time