JP2003316613A - Usability test system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system capable of testing usability with high reliability at a low cost in a short time. <P>SOLUTION: A usability test system is for analyzing and verifying the operability of an object such as various kinds of merchandise, programs or homepages or the like. The system comprises: a simulation means capable of simulating the object on the terminal screen of a subject on the basis of the operation of the subject; and an information storage means for recording an operation history for each subject accompanying the execution of the simulation to presented questions. On the basis of the operation history acquired from the information storage means, the operability of the object is analyzed or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a usability test of various products, programs or websites (homepages), that is, analysis and verification of operability and usability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a usability test of a website, a subject actually browses a homepage, and a video is taken of the state of the operation, and the content of the shooting is analyzed and an interview is conducted with the subject. It was done.

[0003]

However, in the case of video shooting or interviewing, there is a risk that the test may be less accurate and reliable due to the tension of the subject. In addition, in video shooting and interviews, data collection and analysis / analysis requires a great deal of human, time and cost burden. Moreover, the amount of information that can be collected is limited due to such a thing, and there is a limit in terms of speed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a main object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of performing a highly reliable usability test in a short period of time at low cost.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the usability test system of the present invention is a usability test system for analyzing and verifying the operability of objects such as various products, programs or homepages. . Then, based on the operation of the subject, a simulation means that enables a pseudo operation of the object on the subject's terminal screen, and an information storage in which an operation history for each subject is recorded as the simulation is performed on the presented question. And means. Further, the operability of the object can be analyzed and the like based on the operation history acquired from the information storage means.

Further, the usability test system of the present invention is a usability test system for analyzing and verifying the operability of a home page, and can be connected to a plurality of viewer terminals via a network. And it is characterized by having the following requirements (a)-(c). (A) Request information disclosure means for transmitting request information for surfing to a specific web page to a viewer terminal and disclosing it. (B) Information storage means for receiving and storing the attribute information of the viewer who receives the request from the viewer terminal and recording an access log from the viewer terminal. (C) Operation history extraction means for extracting an operation history for each viewer and the request based on the access log acquired from the information storage means.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The usability test system of the present invention will be described in more detail below. The usability test system of the present invention is used for various products, programs, homepages, etc. for analysis and verification of their operability and usability.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention. In operating the system of this embodiment, an organizer who conducts a usability test and one or more test subjects who cooperate with the usability test and take the test appear. The test organizer may be a manufacturer / distributor of various merchandise subject to usability tests, a website owner, or the like. This includes cases where system companies, research companies, etc. perform testing.

The test organizer side is provided with a server 1 which is a main part of the usability test system of this embodiment. On the other hand, a subject terminal (browser terminal) 3 is provided on the side of each subject (homepage viewer). The server 1 can be connected to the plurality of subject terminals 3, 3 ... In this embodiment, a server (web server) 1 is connected to a subject terminal 3 via the Internet 2.

Each subject terminal 3 is an input / output device operated by the subject, and in the present embodiment, is composed of a personal computer. That is, for example, in addition to a personal computer body including a control unit and an information storage unit, an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse, an output unit such as a display, and further as Internet browsing software, for example, Microsoft
"Internet Explorer" or Netscape Communic
A WWW browser such as "Netscape Navigator" from ations is incorporated. Further, in order to connect to the Internet and enable communication with the server 1, a modem or a terminal adapter is provided.

On the other hand, the server 1 is provided with a simulation means by which a subject can take a usability test on the Internet. In this embodiment,
Although it is possible to simulate a car navigation system (car navigation system), the present invention can be similarly applied to other products.

The usability test of this embodiment is for a car navigation system, and the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation system and the operation unit (remote control) are displayed on the display of the subject terminal 3, and the test subject appropriately operates the operation unit on the screen. Manipulate and take the test (Fig. 4). That is, by clicking each button of the displayed operation unit with the mouse, the contents of the liquid crystal screen displayed in the display of the subject terminal 3 can be changed as if the car navigation was actually operated. .

At the time of the test, a profile of the subject is obtained from the subject as attribute information. As this attribute information, appropriate information can be considered, but for example, sex, age, occupation, and name can be considered.

The test is carried out by giving a question to the subject (for example, by designating a certain destination and letting the route display to the destination be displayed on the car navigation system), and having the subject answer the question. The test subject's answer is given by actually operating the car navigation displayed on the display of the test subject terminal 3. The contents operated by the subject are recorded in the information storage means of the server 1 as an operation history.
For example, information such as when and in what scene what operation was performed is collected. In this manner, by collecting operation histories of a plurality of (preferably a large number of) subjects and analyzing the information, it becomes possible to analyze and verify the usability and operability of the car navigation system.

The above simulation and the collection of the operation history thereof are transmitted from the server 1 to the subject terminal 3 in HTML.
In addition to various files such as scripts and scripts, CGI on the server side
Etc. In this embodiment, a Shockwave (or a Flash (F) created by using a director (Director) developed by Macromedia, Inc.
lash)) file, the usage state of the car navigation system is reproduced in a pseudo manner, and the operation content is returned to the server 1 and saved in the information storage means of the server 1. Note that a necessary player (for example, Shockwave Player or Flash Player) is plugged in the WWW browser of the subject terminal 3 as a shockwave file or the like is used.

In addition to the HTML file, the server 1 stores a shock wave file reproduced through the HTML file. In other words, ".s" for playing in Shockwave via WWW browser
The file of the "wf" format and the HTML file of the ".html (.htm)" format in which the reproduction tag of the file is described are stored. Then, those files are stored in the server 1
Based on the request from the subject terminal 3 connected to
It is transmitted to the subject terminal 3 and displayed on the display of the subject terminal 3 so that the simulation can be performed on the subject terminal.

Next, the execution of the car navigation usability test using the system of this embodiment will be described in chronological order. First, the subject who is going to take the usability test uses the WWW browser of the subject terminal 3 to connect to the website providing the usability test via the Internet 2 and opens a predetermined page. As a result, the file for displaying the screen as shown in FIG. 2 is transmitted from the server 1 to the subject terminal 3, and the subject terminal 3
Is displayed on the display.

The screen of FIG. 2 is a screen for prompting the input of the attribute information of the subject. Here, sex, age (age group), and occupation can be selected by radio buttons, and an input field for the subject's name is displayed. Therefore, the subject may select and input his / her profile and then click the "Next" button with the mouse. As a result, the attribute information is transmitted to the server 1, and the server 1 having received the attribute information stores the attribute information in the information storage means.

On the other hand, in the subject terminal 3, by clicking the "Next" button, as shown in FIG.
The question is displayed. The number of questions may be one or may be plural as in the illustrated example. For example, Question 1 in the example shown in the figure, "You are currently running around Shin-Osaka Station. I want to go to Universal Studios Japan, but I do not know my address or phone number. Please. "

A button "try this" is displayed corresponding to each question, and the subject can challenge the question by clicking the button. For example, when the "try this" button for question 1 is clicked, a screen as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. On this screen, the operation unit (remote control) of the car navigation system and the liquid crystal screen are displayed. Also, apart from that, in the margin of the screen, a “test stop” button to be clicked when a question being tried or to stop the test in the middle is displayed.

In this embodiment, in addition to the up, down, left, and right arrow buttons, the navigation, operation unit, enter, menu, current location,
There are buttons for destination, surroundings, and back. Therefore, the subject may change the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation by clicking these buttons on the screen and operating them.

For example, the question currently being tried is the route to "Universal Studios Japan",
It looks good if you search from the destination. Therefore, it is assumed that the subject clicks the "destination" button of the operation unit displayed on the screen. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation changes. So how do you find it? "Registered", "Facilities",
Each button of "address" and "telephone number" is displayed.

Here, since the address and telephone number are not known from the question, the subject selects the "facility" button with the arrow keys and then clicks the "decide" button. As a result, which genre is it as shown in Fig. 6? "Public facility", "Leisure" and "Transportation" buttons are displayed together with the question.

[0024] Here, after selecting "Leisure" with the arrow keys and clicking the "Enter" button, which type (sightseeing place, botanical garden, ski resort, campground, golf course, accommodation, theme park) is selected. Selection is possible, and when further narrowing down by region or prefecture, the selection screen finally displays a plurality of theme park names in Osaka prefecture (Fig. 7). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, "Universal Studio Japan" is displayed by using an arrow button or the like, which is selected, and the "OK" button is clicked.

As a result, a confirmation screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed, so that the "go now" button is selected and clicked. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, a route selection screen is displayed, and when any one is selected, as shown in FIG.
The route from your current location to Universal Studios Japan is displayed on the LCD screen. Since this is the correct answer to the question this time, as shown in FIG. 11, after the fact is displayed, the screen returns to the screen shown in FIG.

Even if there are other questions, the simulation can be performed in the same manner as above. Then, when the subject wants to stop the simulation, he / she can click the “Stop Test” button in each simulation screen or the “End All” button in the screen of FIG. Note that the screen of FIG. 3 has a comment entry field, so the subject can also enter an opinion in the box as appropriate. The written comment is transmitted to the server 1 and recorded in the information storage means of the server 1 when the “End All” button is clicked.

By the way, in the above series of simulations, the subject terminal 3 accessing the server 1 is
You can also execute it after downloading all files (shock wave file etc.) from the server, or request the files of the next screen to the server 1 sequentially by links etc. in response to clicking the button in each screen, and In response, a predetermined file may be transmitted from the server 1 to the subject terminal 3, and the screen of the subject terminal 3 may be changed based on the file.

The contents operated by the subject in accordance with the simulation are transmitted to the server 1 and registered in the information storage means of the server 1. The server 1 may collect the operation history by grasping the file request from the subject terminal 3. Normally, the operation history is transmitted to the server 1 each time the subject operates, but the operation history is temporarily stored in the hard disk of the subject terminal 3 or the like, and is collectively sent to the server 1 at the end of the simulation. You may make it transmit.

In the present embodiment, the operation history is, for example, information as to which screen, what seconds, and what button operation was performed. For example, in FIG. 5, four buttons of “registered”, “facility”, “address” and “telephone number” are displayed, and the color of the “registered” button is reversed. Consider the screen that is selected. Then, from this screen, if you first click the right arrow key on the operating unit, this time the "facility" button will be highlighted and selected, and in that state,
Consider the operation history when the “OK” button on the operation unit is selected.

The operation history in this case is, for example,
The screen name, dwell time, and operation button, such as the "right arrow button after 5 seconds" was clicked on the "registered" selection screen, and the "decision button after 3 seconds" was clicked on the "facility" selection screen. The history information consisting of is collected and stored. Then, the operation history is stored in association with the subject so that it is possible to know which subject's operation history the history information is.

In this embodiment, the operation history is created for each subject as one text file together with the attribute information (profile) of the subject, the date and time of the test execution, and the comments described in FIG. It should be noted that the data of a plurality of subjects may be stored in one file, or the attribute information and the history information may be associated with each other and saved as a separate file or a database, and other appropriate changes are possible.

By analyzing the history information collected in this manner or the attribute information of the subject in addition to it, the operability, usability, and problems of the car navigation system can be grasped. For example, by using publicly known data analysis software, the correct answer rate for each question, the time required for decision, the pattern retention time of misjudgment, the operation route, the tendency, etc. can be displayed graphically. For example, on the screen of FIG. 5, it is possible to know which button on the operation unit is correct and which button is pressed by which person. Moreover, if analysis is performed using the attribute information, it is possible to check by the ratio of men and women who pressed each button, or by age or occupation. It should be noted that from the attribute information, the composition of the subject (gender ratio, age distribution, occupation, etc.) can be known.

Such analysis processing may be realized by the CGI of the server, and the result may be browsed online from the terminal of the certified test organizer. Alternatively, the test organizer's terminal may be connected to the server to download the history information and the attribute information, and then the organizer's terminal may analyze and analyze the information.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the example applied to the usability test of products such as car navigation is explained.
It can also be used for homepage usability testing. Next, the system in this case will be described.

The homepage usability test system may be constructed in the same manner as the above-mentioned merchandise usability test system, but may have the system configuration described below.

Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The terminal of the subject (homepage viewer) 3 can be connected to the server 1 via the Internet 2. Similar to a normal web server, the server 1 stores files (HTML files and the like) of a plurality of web pages constituting a website for a usability test. Therefore, the test subject can view each web page in the same manner as a normal home page.

The subject who wants to take the usability test of the home page connects to the server 1 through the WWW browser of his subject terminal 3 and opens a predetermined page. For example, based on a request from the viewer terminal 3, an HTML file for a screen as shown in FIG. 12 is transmitted to the subject terminal 3 and displayed on its display.

This screen is for the subject to input the profile, and in the illustrated example, there are input fields for selection of sex, age, occupation, and name. Therefore,
After answering these questions, the subject may click the "Next" button. As a result, the selected / input attribute information is transmitted to the server 1, and the server 1 having received it registers the attribute information in the information storage means.

Further, the server 1 transmits the HTML file forming the screen as shown in FIG. 13 to the subject terminal 3, and the subject terminal 3 receiving the HTML file displays the screen as shown in FIG. 13 on its display. It This screen is a list of questions to the subject, and in the present embodiment, one or more pieces of request information for surfing the web up to a specific web page are displayed. For example, question 2 in the illustrated example has the content of "Please find out where the nearest station is" of the site company.

Then, the subject who is going to try this question 2 may click the "try this" button corresponding to the question. After that, you can follow the links in order, just as you would on a normal home page.
The question list window (FIG. 13) is preferably separate from the window displaying the home page of the test so that the question contents can be checked at any time.

After clicking "try this" in question 2, the subject moved to the window of the homepage for the usability test and asked the question (where is the nearest station)?
Find out about. In this embodiment, the top page is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the screen has four boxes displayed. Then, for example, when the box at the lower right of the box is clicked, a window as shown in FIG. 15 appears. Then, as shown in FIG. 16, a window showing a map appears. Since the nearest station is shown in this map, you have answered the question. Therefore, for example, after a certain period of time, a screen as shown in FIG. 17 may be displayed to notify that effect. Then, move to the question list window and try other questions in the same way if necessary, or click the "End All" button to end the test.

By the way, also in the system of this embodiment, the operation history of the subject is registered in the information storage means of the server 1. For this purpose, the operation history may be collected and stored by the same method as in the above-described embodiment, but in this embodiment, the following method is adopted.

That is, the access log to the web server 1 is taken, and the operation log of each subject is taken using the access log. The access log stores the request from the terminal of which IP address and to which page the server 1 made. Therefore, for example, a certain IP address (transmission of attribute information) is set for a certain period of time after the "Try this" button is clicked, or until the target page is displayed or before the target page is displayed. The access log is filtered according to the IP address that was found.

That is, the access log for each subject is extracted. As a result, the file name of the page browsed by the subject and the browsing time are grasped. The file name may be left as it is, but it is desirable to convert it to a more understandable page name. For example, it is preferable to convert the operation history using a table in which file names correspond to page names such as “top page” in “index.html”. Further, it is preferable to convert the retention time in each page using the request time of each page.

As a result, for example, the operation history of the time when the top page is browsed, the number of seconds after which the page is linked, and the number of seconds after which the page is linked to another page is collected. And register it in the information storage means. At that time, the history information and the attribute information are stored in association with each other so that the history information of which subject is known. At this time, one file may be stored for each subject.

Such editing of the operation history may be performed by the CGI of the server 1 at the end of the answer to each question, or the server 1 may be accessed from the terminal of the test organizer via the Internet and the source code may be edited. The final access log may be obtained by downloading the dynamic access log and editing it using spreadsheet software or the like.

By analyzing the history information collected in this manner or the attribute information of the subject in addition to it, it becomes possible to grasp the operability, usability, problems and the like of the website under test. For example, by using a known data analysis software, based on the extracted operation history, whether to reach the specific page, the correct answer rate for each question, the total required time, operation route, the number of operation steps, It is possible to graphically display the dwell time / decision required time, misjudging pattern dwell time, correct answer rate of link destination selection, tendency, etc. on each page. Moreover, if analysis is performed using the attribute information, it is possible to check by the ratio of men and women who pressed each button, or by age or occupation.

By the way, the usability test of the home page may be performed on an actual home page, but it is preferable to perform it on a mirror site. In other words, create a website for usability testing by copying the files needed for testing. By executing the test at the mirror site, when the final target page is reached, as shown in FIG. 17, it is possible to display a page indicating that fact. Also, if you make it a mirror site,
Since the server 1 is originally different, it is possible to realize two or more sites (for example, the head office and each site of an affiliated company) where access logs cannot be collected in a unified manner in one server, and log analysis is possible. Become.

According to the usability test system in each of the above embodiments, the operability (usability, navigation) of various products and homepages can be analyzed and verified. When targeting the homepage, it becomes possible to identify problems in the information structure. In addition, when there are multiple alternatives, it is possible to compare the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative by conducting a usability test for each alternative.

Further, by automatically performing the test online, it is advantageous in terms of cost and speed, and it is easy to collect and analyze a relatively large amount of data. Moreover, unlike video shooting and interviews, a highly reliable test can be executed by collecting the operation history without the subject's knowledge.

The usability test system of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, but can be modified as appropriate. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the example applied to the usability test of the product or homepage has been described.
It can also be applied to program operability.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the test subject terminal 3 is connected to the server 1 via the Internet and the test is performed online has been described, but the present system can also be performed offline. When performing an off-line test, a simulation means (shock wave file, HTML file, or CG
I program, script, etc.) may be provided and attribute information and history information may be registered in the information storage means (hard disk etc.) of the subject terminal 3.

Further, although the shock wave files and the like have been stored in advance in the information storage means of the server 1 and the terminal, the files are stored in various recording media such as CD-ROM, CD-R, and MO. It can be distributed as it is. Then, at the time of use, it may be stored in a hard disk of a personal computer and executed.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the subject terminal 3 is composed of a personal computer has been described.
You may use HS, a personal digital assistant, etc. For example, in the case of a mobile phone, it is possible to implement a usability test of content for the mobile phone.

[0055]

As described in detail above, according to the usability test system of the present invention, a highly reliable usability test can be performed at a low cost in a short period of time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a usability test system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is an attribute information input screen.

FIG. 3 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a question list display screen.

FIG. 4 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a simulation start screen.

FIG. 5 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a route search method selection screen.

FIG. 6 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a genre selection screen.

FIG. 7 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a facility selection screen.

FIG. 8 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a facility confirmation screen.

FIG. 9 is a first usability test system of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the embodiment, which is a route selection screen.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the first embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a route display screen.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the first embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a simulation end screen.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is an attribute information input screen.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a question list display screen.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a top screen.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a company overview display screen.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a map display screen.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the subject terminal in the second embodiment of the usability test system of the present invention, which is a simulation end screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 server 2 Network (Internet) 3 Subject terminal (viewer terminal)

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A usability test system for analyzing and verifying the operability of objects such as various products, programs or homepages, wherein the object is simulated on the terminal screen of the object based on the operation of the object. The target object is provided based on an operation history acquired from the information storage means, which includes a simulation means that enables the operation, and an information storage means that records an operation history for each subject with the execution of the simulation for the presented question. Usability test system characterized by being able to analyze the operability of. 2. In the information storage means, in addition to the operation history for each question, the attribute information of the subject acquired from the subject is stored in association with each other, and the operation history of each subject for each question is stored. 2. The usability test system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information is acquired from the information storage means and the operability is analyzed. 3. A plurality of subject terminals can be connected via a network, and the simulation means simulates a usage state of an object, and a Shockwave or Flash file, and a WWW file for the same. An HTML file for displaying on a browser is included, and simulation is possible on the WWW browser of the subject terminal in which the player for playing the shockwave or flash file is plugged in. The usability test system according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The simulation according to any one of claims 1 to 3 on a computer equipped with a WWW browser in which a player for playing Shockwave or Flash files is plugged in. A computer-readable recording medium in which at least a Shockwave or Flash file and an HTML file for displaying the Shockwave or Flash file on a WWW browser are recorded to be realized. 5. A usability test system for analyzing and verifying the operability of a home page, which is connectable to a plurality of viewer terminals via a network, and is capable of transmitting request information for surfing to a specific web page. A request information disclosing means for transmitting and disclosing to the viewer terminal, and an information storage means for receiving and storing attribute information of the viewer who receives the request from the viewer terminal and recording an access log from the viewer terminal. And an operation history extracting unit that extracts an operation history for each of the viewer and the request based on the access log acquired from the information storage unit. 6. The operation history extracting means extracts the browsing page of the viewer by associating the access log with the IP address of the viewer terminal and associating the browsing page of the viewer with the operation time. Based on the above, whether or not the specific page is reached, the total required time, the operation route, the number of operation steps, the dwell time / decision required time on each page, the correct answer rate of link destination selection, etc. The usability test system according to claim 5, wherein at least one of associations with attributes in the attribute information can be obtained. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein access logs can be collected in a unified manner even on web pages of a plurality of web servers, and the access logs are realized on a mirror site in which files of each web page are copied. The usability test system according to item 6. 8. By executing the usability test for each of a plurality of proposals such as various products, programs, homepages, etc., and acquiring an analysis result of operation contents,
The usability test system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and claim 5 to claim 7, characterized in that the plurality of alternatives can be compared based on it. 9. A computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a program for realizing the usability test system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and 5 to 8 on a computer.