Editing Usability testing (section)

{{short description|Technique in user-centered interaction design}}
'''Usability testing''' is a technique used in [[user-centered design|user-centered]] [[interaction design]] to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable [[usability]] practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system.<ref>Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability Engineering, Academic Press Inc, p 165</ref> It is more concerned with the design intuitiveness of the product and tested with users who have no prior exposure to it. Such testing is paramount to the success of an end product as a fully functioning application that creates confusion amongst its users will not last for long.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://moodup.team/blog/usability-testing-the-key-to-design-validation/|title=Usability Testing: the Key to Design Validation|last=Mejs|first=Monika|date=2019-06-27|website=Mood Up team - software house|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref> This is in contrast with [[usability inspection]] methods where experts use different methods to evaluate a user interface without involving users.

Usability testing focuses on measuring a human-made product's capacity to meet its intended purposes. Examples of products that commonly benefit from usability testing are [[food]], consumer products, [[website]]s or web applications, [[user interface|computer interfaces]], documents, and devices. Usability testing measures the usability, or ease of use, of a specific object or set of objects, whereas general [[human–computer interaction]] studies attempt to formulate universal principles.