Usability is at a crossroads – are we looking at “Back to Basics” or “Brave New World? I attended the latest event from Chinwag, and here are the notes.

On the panel were a Brighton trio – who were presenting their ideas and beliefs on usability and accessibilty as part of the tools for effective web marketing. Bryan Rieger, Andy Budd and Niqui Merrett.

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Here’s a step by step list of how you can successfully carry out user tests on a budget and achieve great results.

Example of case study

• Usability test start off with user being asked to find individual item..
• The user/tester is normally paid for this, a real user would not take as much time to look for item.

The Comparison of costs betweeen traditional and remote testing:

• Traditional – testing lab required, specialist equipment, travel costs, user incentives.
• Remote tests – online meeting, recruitment, user incentives, better on budget.

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.. and useful web services in a web 2.0 environment

want some quick tips on how to increase your productivity? Want to save less time trying to find the information you ‘filed’ last week?

Some are free, some are a few pounds, all well worth checking out to see of they can help you, like they have with me.

They are all about sharing, storing and using information efficiently:

• basecamp – without a doubt, essential tool from 37signals- let your clients know at what stage you are with that all important project.. this is a lifesaver.. should of been using it earlier!
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