TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: user test for manual From:TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 29 Nov 2004 11:11:41 -0800
Your web test should translate to a print test nicely. Comprehension
testing is a different story.
If by user testing you mean usability, then all aspects of a good web
usability test can be adapred to print. Navigation by means of toc,
ix, and xrefs in the book, layout of content, good headers and
footers, meaningful info, means of getting more info, etc.
If the point is to get someone to be able to use the app
constructively with no knowledge except what's in the book, then find
yourself a few guinea pigs (internally or externally - I find the
Accounting folks to be relatively good guinea pigs as they usually are
detatched from the company except where numbers are concerned) and see
how they complete some core tasks with the app with only the help of
the book.
On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 09:49:15 -0500, Neumann, Eileen
<eneuman -at- franklintempleton -dot- ca> wrote:
>
> Does anyone have experience doing user testing of a print user guide? I know the basics of user testing for a website, where the focus tends to be on navigation - can the user find what they're looking for, and how long does that take. But for print, I'm stuck. Do I give a comprehension test?
>
> The user guide is part descriptive (describes the screens and functions) and part procedural (how to do some simple tasks using the application). I could get the user to do some of these tasks using the guide, but they could do them without really understanding much about the application. Since the app is work related, we want them to understand.
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
