Tools for conducting remote usability
One of the easiest ways to get feedback on your web application is to use screensharing technology to watch folks attempt to use your site. Many of the top web conferencing applications can be used for this purpose, and they usually offer free trial accounts. You set up a time for your session and get a meeting ID and a conference number. The user will need to go to the site, enter the meeting id number, download a small applet (usually java) and then have “presenter” status moved to them. From that point on, you can see your subjects using your site while talking to them. It’s particularly useful for larger teams, as multiple people can join in the “meeting” from anyplace with an internet connection. Basically, there’s no reason the entire development team can’t sit and watch from their machines.
Until recently, my favorite was GotoMeeting from Citrix. It was much simpler to use than WebEx or even worse, Gatherplace.net. However, we just uncovered a serious limitation while doing some usability with one of our clients. Gotomeeting doesn’t allow Macs to act as hosts - meaning a user with a Mac can’t share his or her desktop with the team. This renders the tool useless for this kind of research.
Fortunately, we gave Adobe’s Acrobat Connect a try and not only did it work flawlessly, but it was even easier to use than Citrix and it uses a Flash plugin rather than a java applet. They offer a 14-day trial, which should be plenty of time to run a study and determine if it works for your purposes.
In case anyone from the above companies happen to see this, I think the entire market is missing an opportunity to repackage these online meeting solutions for research purposes. It’s a classic case where a technology designed to solve one problem ends up being very useful in solving another problem. Call it a great “unintended” use! Either way, it would be great to see one or all of these providers offer a simpler solution with a more cost-effective pricing model for this type of service.
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Thanks I hadn’t seen the adobe one. Will check it out.
My main interest with this technology right now is simply letting my clients observe the testing live in their own office.
Morae can do screen sharing but it requires a download and the interface is only really designed for a trained observer… Have you tried to share a Morae or an eyetracking session live using another tool?
Oh, my rave about remote usability to the WebEx people exhibiting at CEBIT this month in Sydney, Australia fell on deaf ears. I am totally with you though!
It needs to be as simple as sending the observer a link so they can watch. Should be easy!
James Breeze
Ahh! Can you belive it, I saw the Acrobat Connect video, looks great! BUT it is not available in Australia… Ah, we’re on the WEB aren’t we??
Well, it seems only fitting that when I give a shout out to a new app there’s some issue with it:-) Very strange that it wouldn’t be available in Australia. Think I’ll shoot a quick email to a product management leader I know at Adobe, see if he can pass it along to the right folks.
Haven’t tried Morae, but will give it a shot. Thanks for suggesting.
I have used go to meeting for along time, works great, easy for people to connect. Do you know of something like go to meeting that includes VOIP so they don’t have to dial into OHIO to hear me?
Haven’t seen an integrated solution yet (though admittedly, I haven’t been doing too much research lately.) Seems like something they should be able to do. I wonder how difficult it would be to incorporate skype conference calls…