Is Usability Testing About to Change?

In this month's User Interface Design Update Newsletter, Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., CUA, asks "Is usability testing as we know it about to radically change?" Her debate compares and contrasts automated testing (bad guys) vs. human-operated tests by a usability engineer. Weinschenk answers 5 poignant questions in the article, and while the data was for the most part the same for both the automated and the in-person test, "the usability expert found on average 13 additional usability problems that were not identified in the automated condition". Big score for the good guys! Well worth a read for usability junkies...

Settling into our "Itty Bitty" apartment...

To answer the burning question: we chose Great Neck. There's still boxes to unpack, painter's tape to be pealed off, counter tops to be installed and furniture to be delivered (did I mention our sofa didn't fit?). Ahh, the joys of moving. I've managed to setup shop for my Powerbook upon an old console table, positioned along one of our newly painted walls (the chair rail molding we installed looks stunning). And our recent literary purchase of "The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook" by Justin Spring, should help us get our small kitchen in order in no time. Now, if we only had room for the dining table. Sigh.