Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring

Usability evaluation is an essential task in web application development. There have been several attempts to integrate user-centered design with agile methods, but it is hard to synchronize their practices. User testing is very valuable to learn from feedback of actual use, but it remains expensive...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Firmenich, Sergio Damián, Garrido, Alejandra, Grigera, Julián, Rivero, José Matías, Rossi, Gustavo Héctor
Formato: Articulo Preprint
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2019
Materias:
Ciencias Informáticas
Usability evaluation
A/B testing | Web refactoring
Agile methods
External quality
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/119018
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-119018
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Ciencias Informáticas
Usability evaluation
A/B testing | Web refactoring
Agile methods
External quality
spellingShingle Ciencias Informáticas
Usability evaluation
A/B testing | Web refactoring
Agile methods
External quality
Firmenich, Sergio Damián
Garrido, Alejandra
Grigera, Julián
Rivero, José Matías
Rossi, Gustavo Héctor
Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
topic_facet Ciencias Informáticas
Usability evaluation
A/B testing | Web refactoring
Agile methods
External quality
description Usability evaluation is an essential task in web application development. There have been several attempts to integrate user-centered design with agile methods, but it is hard to synchronize their practices. User testing is very valuable to learn from feedback of actual use, but it remains expensive to find and solve usability problems. Furthermore, the high cost of usability evaluation forces small/medium-sized companies to trust the first solution applied, without actually testing the success of the solution or considering a possible regression in usability, as could be highlighted by an iterative testing method. In this article we advocate for a usability improvement cycle oriented by user feedback, and compatible with an agile development process. We propose an iterative method supported by a toolkit that allows usability experts to design user tests, run them remotely, analyze results, and assess alternative solutions to usability problems similarly to A/B testing. Each solution is created by applying client-side web refactorings, i.e., changes to the web pages in the client which are meant to improve usability. The main benefit of our approach is that it reduces the overall cost of user testing and particularly, A/B testing, by applying refactorings to create alternative solutions without modifying the application’s server code. By making it affordable for usability experts to apply the method in parallel with the development cycle, we aim to encourage them to incorporate user feedback and try different ideas to discover the best performing solution in terms of the metrics of interest.
format Articulo
Preprint
author Firmenich, Sergio Damián
Garrido, Alejandra
Grigera, Julián
Rivero, José Matías
Rossi, Gustavo Héctor
author_facet Firmenich, Sergio Damián
Garrido, Alejandra
Grigera, Julián
Rivero, José Matías
Rossi, Gustavo Héctor
author_sort Firmenich, Sergio Damián
title Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
title_short Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
title_full Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
title_fullStr Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
title_full_unstemmed Usability Improvement Through A/B Testing and Refactoring
title_sort usability improvement through a/b testing and refactoring
publishDate 2019
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/119018
work_keys_str_mv AT firmenichsergiodamian usabilityimprovementthroughabtestingandrefactoring
AT garridoalejandra usabilityimprovementthroughabtestingandrefactoring
AT grigerajulian usabilityimprovementthroughabtestingandrefactoring
AT riverojosematias usabilityimprovementthroughabtestingandrefactoring
AT rossigustavohector usabilityimprovementthroughabtestingandrefactoring
bdutipo_str Repositorios
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