Tree testing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:49, 16 September 2009

Revision as of 11:31, 16 September 2009

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'''Tree testing''' is a [[usability]] technique for evaluating the [[findability]] of topics in a website.

A large website is typically organized into a hierarchy (a "tree") of topics and subtopics. Tree testing provides a way to measure how well users can find items in this hierarchy.

Unlike traditional [[usability testing]], tree testing is not done on the website itself; instead, a simplified text version of the site structure is used. This ensures that only the structure is being evaluated, removing the effects of other factors such as [[visual design]].

In a typical tree test:

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# They continue choosing (moving down through the tree) - drilling down, backtracking if necessary – until they find a topic that satisfies the task (or until they give up).

# The participant does several tasks in this manner, starting each task back at the top of the tree.

# Once several participants have completed the test, the results are analysedanalyzed for each task.

The analysis typically tries to answer these questions:

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|author=Donna Spencer

|date=April 2003

}}</ref>, tree testing was originally done on paper (typically using [[index cards]]), but can now also be done using tree-testing software.

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[[Category:Human-computer interaction]]

[[Category:Information architects|*Information architecture]]

[[Category:Web design]]

[[Category:Technical communication]]

[[Category:Information science]]