[Usability] How to test

["Matthew Nuzum" <newz bearfruit org>]

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 8:49 AM, Calum Benson <Calum Benson sun com> wrote:
> If somebody could write a *nix version of something like Silverback[4], that
> would be a great tool to have in our armoury, too.  (Slight mixed metaphor
> there...)
> [4] <http://silverbackapp.com/>

I didn't write a program like this but I did work out a solution. I
used desktop sharing to another computer that used vncrec to get the
screen capture and a more traditional camera recording program (can't
remember which I used now). To sync the two I said the word "click" as
I clicked something on the screen so that i could line up the videos
afterward. It took forever to export the vncrec file to another video
format (4 hours for a 10m session iirc) which could then be combined
together using a typical video tool (I used windows movie maker for
lack of a better option). Maybe you could run vncrec on the same
computer that's sharing it's desktop.

In hindsight I feel that most of my time creating video recordings was
wasted effort. It may be useful if you're in a situation where "powers
that be" don't trust your evaluation. But making meaningful use of the
videos is very very time consuming. I feel much better about just
making notes on paper as I watch the user. I had to write fast and my
notes were hard to read afterwards but I didn't get much extra from
the videos.

Maybe my pencil and paper technique is better for early stage testing
where there's tons of low-hanging fruit and the videos are better for
final testing where there is likely to be more contention and debate
over the possible changes.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode