The concept of doing all this though is a daunting one, and many believe that real thorough testing is an expensive process.  It can be, but as we saw in our previous article there are many tools around that can keep the cost of usability testing to a minimum.  As we know about five more tools that are cheap and easy to use, here is a rundown of them.

Google Website Optimiser.  This is a free to use tool and is a more advanced method of the A/B testing, where two web different web pages with the same purpose are ran simultaneously to different users to see how they convert.  The results are recorded for analysis.

The service Google offers is known as multivariate testing, and takes the A/B testing idea further by testing a multitude of variables in the same way as A/B testing.  This gives more accurate and precise data on a web page than just A/B testing.

To use it you submit different elements you want to Google, and they randomise them and present them to users.  They record the results so you know which element works best with users.

Click Heat is a free to use service which shows a heat map of clicks made on a website.  It works in the same way as heat maps used in eye tracking studies, but instead charts where a site was clicked.

It does have certain system requirements to use though, like PHP support and must be installed on a server.

Chalkmark, is a currently in beta format and is free to use.  It works by asking users to perform tasks that are set by you.  So you might ask for a user to register with the site.  The clicks a user performs are tracked and from this it is possible to gauge how easy it is for a user to complete them, and subsequently how good the navigation is on your site.

The only downside is that you have to find users to complete the tasks.  This should not be too difficult though, as all the tests are completed online.

Simple mouse tracking is another free tool and does exactly what it says on the tin and tracks mouse clicks on your site.  Like Click Heat it needs to run on a server and requires PHP support.

Silverback is an application for Mac users, and is a very good piece of usability testing software.  It requires no video equipment just an iSight camera, and the user is asked to say their thoughts out loud while performing certain tasks.  Everything that happens on the screen is recorded, and there is a feature which allows chapters to be inserted via a remote.  There is also space for note taking, which can also prove useful for when presenting results.

The whole thing costs $49.99 which is a fraction of the cost of creating a usability testing environment.

The tools and tips here have shown us that usability is not a scary concept, or an expensive one.  It has also shown, that unlike many web design concepts, you do not get what you pay for, and many good usability tools are free to use.

The trick is to choose the right tool for what you are hoping to discover, this way your site will be as good as it can be from a navigational perspective.

Usability testing can sound like a daunting concept especially if you are on a tight budget.  The idea of paying lots of people to try and find problems with your recently finished masterpiece is not that appealing.  Did you know that, according to many well placed sources, that you only need five users to uncover 85% of any problems your site may have?

Also, remember that as you designed the site you know exactly how it works.  Other users will not have that advantage so here are some tools you can use to ensure the usability of your website, is as it should be.

Userfly allows you to track a users movements from mouse clicks to keystrokes, so in effect you can track the whole session and see the results.  It works because they allow you to put a little bit of java script on your website that makes all this possible.  The beauty of this is that any problems a user experienced can be replayed, and for the first 10 uses, it is free.

Feedback Army allows you to ask 10 questions about your website.  Though you do not receive detailed reviews they are fast to come back to you, and therefore for the $10 fee it is not a bad option, should you use it.  It is powered by Amazons Mechanical Turk Engine.  To get the best out of it you should choose your questions with care.

Five Second Test, is an interesting and free usability service, where testers test your website based on one of three criteria.  Classic, compare, and sentiment.

Classic -  A screen shot of your site is shown to a user and then removed.  The user is then asked to recall elements they remember.

Compare – Shows two screen shots and users are asked which one they like best

Sentiment – Users are showed a screen shot and users are asked which elements they liked and which they did not.

The service can be tailored to public, or specific users, so is very useful if you are trying to keep exposure down to a minimum.  As you have no doubt deduced, users have five seconds to give feedback.

Usability Testing, is a service that offers a very comprehensive service.  For $29 per test, the site will take the demographic of your website and use this to select users for testing it.  A video of the screens that users accessed will be given to you together with a running commentary.  A written report detailing what users liked and disliked, and anything that prompted them to leave the site is also included.

This is a very good test for the money involved.

Click tale offers a service a little like Userfly.  All movements on your site are captured and presented to you, so you can see how usable the site is. This includes link analysis–how many clicks did a link get, and an analytic plan.  For the full package it costs around $99 per month.  There are other features too which are free.

Though the free plan does not include all the features, it does record data for 400 page views per month per domain.

These usability tips and tools should help you ascertain whether or not your site is up to the job it was intended for.  Many of these tools are free to use or inexpensive, which make them ideal for tight budgets, and freelance web designers.

They are an invaluable resource to show how the site shapes up in the field, for users that do not have the inside knowledge of the guy that designed it.

It is important not to take offence at criticisms, but use it in a positive way.