Summary

This video is a supplement to the usability guidelines for Web-based applications in Flash:

• The written report contains the guidelines, the description of our research studies, and many screenshots.
• The video shows live clips from the test sessions, thus making many of the usability issues much more vivid and creating more of a sense of empathy with the users and their struggles.

This is not a complete record of the vast amount of testing we performed during this project: the video contains highlights from test sessions in the United States and Japan (with subtitles), showing clips from user actions that are illustrative of key usability issues in designing Web-based functionality in Flash. This makes the video much more motivating to watch than having to sit through hours upon hours of the full test sessions.

The video was recorded through direct digital capture of the image on the computer monitor during the test sessions. This means that you get a pixel-perfect view of the screen: watching these videos is exactly like sitting in the observation room during a live usability session and looking at the slave monitor.

This is not the fuzzy video you may have seen from usability labs that use analog equipment.

Because of the perfect digital video, you cannot watch this video on a television monitor: TV sets have too low resolution. The video highlights are recorded as digital video in both Windows Media format and Apple QuickTime format (the CD-ROM contains two full-length versions of the video so that it will play on both PCs and Macs).

We strongly recommend that you watch the video on a computer monitor with a resolution of at least 1024x768 so that you can get a crisp view of the user sessions. (With a smaller monitor, the video will not be as clear and it may be harder to read the text and follow the user's mouse movements; both of which are very easy to do with the recommended resolution or larger screens.)

You also get picture-in-picture view of the user (for clips from the American test sessions) and English subtitles (for clips from the Japanese test sessions).

Table of Contents

53-minutes digital video

1. Splash pages (3 minutes)
2. Drag-and-drop manipulations (4 minutes)
3. Rotating objects (2 minutes)
4. Motion (3 minutes)
5. Sound (4 minutes)
6. Opening new browser windows (4 minutes)
7. Moving around on maps (2 minutes)
8. Names of locations (4 minutes)
9. Complex features (10 minutes)
10. Guiding users through an expected work path (6 minutes)
11. Explaining the purpose and rationale for the application (9 minutes)

Numbers do not add up due to rounding.

Technical Requirements

• Computer: Windows-compatible PC or Macintosh. For smooth replay of high-resolution video, we recommend a machine that is faster than 1.0 GHz.
• CD-ROM drive.
• Display/Monitor: at least 1024x768.
• Loudspeaker and sound card (or you won't be able to hear the users' thinking-aloud comments).
• Software: one of the following two choices:
  • Windows Media Player version 7.1 or newer
  • QuickTime version 6 or newer

Who Should Watch This Video?

• Anybody who is responsible for the design, implementation, or strategy for Web-based applications in Flash.
• User experience specialists wishing to see how top professionals run usability studies and how to communicate test results through video highlights.
• Design teams who want a vivid overview of usability issues in Web-based applications. Note that at least one member of the team should have read the written report and be responsible for introducing each video segment with a short summary of the usability guidelines.

The video is a supplement to the written Flash usability guidelines. You must read the guidelines report to get the full explanation of the usability issues that are shown in the video highlights. Some of the video clips are self-explanatory, but others need the explanation that's provided in the written report.

There are three recommended uses of the video:

• Watch it yourself as you read the written report or immediately after reading the report.
• Show it to your team in segments accompanied by short lectures where you explain each usability principle before showing the related video highlights. Video highlights from user testing are a great way of motivating a skeptical team to pay attention to usability, but it's not enough to simply let them watch the users. You also have to tell them about the design guidelines that are illustrated by each video clip.
• Test your own observational skills by not reading the written report first. Instead, just watch the video and see if you can identify the main usability problems that the users encounter. (This can also be done as a team exercise, especially if one team member does read the report first and can give the "solution" after the group discussion of each clip.)

Please note that the video is only licensed for internal viewing within your organization. Public performances, broadcasting, and copying are prohibited without special permission. (Despite this restriction, we hereby grant permission for accredited universities and colleges to show the video during classes offered to enrolled students.)

Buy Now (from Yahoo Store) $46 for the CD-ROM with 53 minutes of video in both Windows Media and Apple QuickTime formats S/H: $3 USA/Canada, $10 other countries (US dollars)