The following script was used in the experimental protocol.
- 5. Greetings
- 6. Reminder of privacy policy
- 7. Written consent
- 8. General guidance about usability testing
- 9. We’re testing the site, not you. It is impossible for you to make a mistake in this survey.
- 10. Slow down screen-reader speech rate
- 11. Talk-through protocol (to the extent possible)
- 12. You can take as much time on a task as you usually would if you were working by yourself. If you reach a point where you would normally give up or try another method, just say so.
- 13. Today we’re testing the usability of a site for screen-reader users. The site sells software and hardware.
- 14. We will make purchases on the site. Everything you buy on the site is purely hypothetical. The transactions will all be erased, no one will be charged for them, and no products will be sold or delivered.
- 15. Some of the items we’ll buy would not necessarily be items you would buy yourself. They are for demonstration only.
- 16. Demonstration accounts have been set up with some existing information. Every participant in this study has a name of Chris as far as the system is concerned.
- 17. If the system asks for credit-card information, we’ll use mine.
20. Introduction
- 21. Open a new window or tab
- 22. Go to [the site URL]
- 23. What would you normally do next?
25. Login
- 26. We’ve set up an account for you under the name screenreader_. The password is the word “password_.”
- 27. To log into a site, what would you normally do?
- 28. Go ahead and log into the site.
- 29. At the sign-in screen, go ahead and explore the page. When you’re ready, fill in the information it asks for.
31. Update account information
- 32. Now let’s go in and update your account information. We’re going to change the E-mail address the system has on file for you.
- 33. Locate a method to do that.
- 34. We can enter my E-mail address as the new one.
36. Locate a product by searching or browsing
- 37. Now we’re going to shop for products using several different methods.
- 38. From where you are now, what would you do to locate a product?
- 39. We’re going to focus on two products. When we’ve located them, we’re going to add them to our shopping cart. Later, we’ll buy them.
- 40. For the first product, imagine that you’ve heard of a kind of mouse pad called a mousing surface.
- 41. How would you usually locate a specific product that is a kind of general product?
- 42. Use whatever method you like to locate the mouse pads that the site sells.
- 43. (At results) How would you fine-tune your shopping so that you located a mousing surface?
- 44. Select a mousing surface and add it to your cart.
- 45. For the next product, you can use any method you like to locate a game controller.
- 46. Locate the least expensive game controller and add it to your cart.
48. Find a product by tabs
- 49. We’re going to shop for a specific product in a different way.
- 50. The site has tabs for hardware and software. Can you find them?
- 51. We’re going to shop for an IBM French keyboard.
- 52. Locate the Hardware tab.
- 53. Which option would you use to locate a keyboard?
- 54. Go ahead and select it.
- 55. Is there an option you can choose to narrow down your selections to just keyboards?
- 56. Locate and select “IBM” on the page.
- 57. How would you locate an IBM French keyboard?
- 58. Locate an IBM French keyboard with a price under $150 and add it to your cart.
60. Checkout
- 61. What would you normally do when attempting to check out your purchases from a Web site?
- 62. How do you usually enter your credit-card information?
- 63. We’re done shopping for the day. Locate the checkout function.
- 64. (If necessary) You may need to update the total number of products you’re buying.
- 65. For this demonstration account, we cannot change the name and address.
- 66. Let’s update the credit-card information. Locate that section of the page.
- 67. Locate a way to indicate that we’re using a Visa card.
- 68. Locate the part of the page where we can enter a credit-card number.
- 69. (Enter number)
- 70. Set the expiration date of the card to March 2005.
- 71. Does the page ask for any other information?
- 72. Fill in the information it asks for. You can use my name.
- 73. Go ahead and completely check out your purchases.
75. Compare two products
- 76. Now we’re going to compare two products. The site makes it possible to do that.
- 77. What would you generally do when you wanted to compare two items on a Web site?
- 78. We’re going to be looking at a product called a wireless router. It lets you connect several computers to the Internet without cables.
- 79. Using any method you like, check to see which “wireless router” products the site offers.
- 80. Select any two routers you like and compare them.
- 81. Which router is less expensive?
83. Logging out
- 84. We’re done for the day. From where you are now, how would you log out of the system?
- 85. Go ahead and do what it takes to log out.
87. Final comments
- 88. Do you have any comments on the activities we just went through?