Up a Tree

Dave O’Brien Nov 2013

Using tree tests to evaluate your IA

Easy to find

UXD easy to use

IA easy to find

Bad navigation

4

Bad Labeling

Bigger = harder

“Getting to the right page within a website or intranet is the inevitable prerequisite to getting anything done.”

- Jakob Nielsen

How do we make it easier to find stuff?

How do we

make it easier

to find stuff?

We research our target users

We design up a bunch of ideas

• French

• Italian

• German

• Japanese

– Sushi

– Teppanyaki

– Yakitori

• Chinese

• Breakfast

– Hot

– Cold

• Lunch

• Dinner

• Snacks

• Beef

• Poultry

– Chicken

– Turkey

– Duck

• Pork

• Vegetarian

Recipes

We test our ideas to find out which work best

Revise and re-test…

…until we get something that works really well

Test early

Test early

Today we’re going to look at tree testing

Doing a real tree test

Volunteer?

So, what did we just see?

Just like a real site

Like a

real

site…

But not really

…but not

really

So why test this way?

So, why test this way?

Quick to set up

It isolates two basic elements

It makes analysis easy

Don’t need to design a website first

Just a spreadsheet

What do we find out?

What do we find out?

What we look for

Did they succeed?

Did they backtrack?

How fast did they click?

Which sections need work?

Some data, please!

At a glance

Low-scoring task

Low-scoring pie tree

High-scoring task

High-scoring pie tree

It’s not about the tool

Are there other ways to test this?

Closed card sorting

Card-based classification evaluation

Your 9-year-old son asks

for a new belt with a

cowboy buckle

Other ways to test trees

Best bang for the buck

Online TT tools = quick and easy

Fast to get up and running

Easy for participants, on their own time

The analytical gruntwork is mostly done for you

Choice of commercial tools…

C-Inspector (Steffen Schilb)

UserZoom (tree-testing module)

Treejack (Optimal Workshop)

It’s not about the tool

It’s not about the bike tool

Lessons learned

Some lessons we’ve learned

When to test

When to run

a tree test?

Phases in design process Research

Open card sorts

Baseline tree test

Design

Test tree 1, 2

Revise, retest

Testing

Usability test

Test against an existing tree

Test

new vs. old

ACC old tree

30%

ACC new tree

67%

test alternative trees

Test

new vs. new

recipes

• French

• Italian

• German

• Japanese

– Sushi

– Teppanyaki

– Yakitori

• Chinese

• Breakfast

– Hot

– Cold

• Lunch

• Dinner

• Snacks

• Beef

• Poultry

– Chicken

– Turkey

– Duck

• Pork

• Vegetarian

Recipes

DIA example

test iteratively

Lather, rinse, repeat

Typical test schedule (design phase)

Week 1

Create tree 1

Create tree 2

Week 2

Run test 1

Run test 2

Week 3

Analyse results

Revise best tree

Week 4

Run revised test

Analyse results

Round 1

Round 2

Revising the best tree

+ =

Different tasks for different groups

Different strokes tasks

for different folks

Shimano example

How many?

How many?

50 Users/group

10 tasks/user

Analysis – what should you be looking for?

What should we look for?

Low success scores

Where did they go?

Lots of backtracking

Evil attractors

Current limitations of the method

All sunshine and lollipops?

Only works with traditional tree structures

WebMD

Only tests certain factors

Organisation

Labeling

Navigation (e.g. menus, see-also links)

Content (e.g. supporting text)

Visual design

• Good and bad

How good are your tasks?

Too many tasks

Badly worded tasks

Don’t give away the answer!

“You need to get reimbursed for expenses. Find the form.”

•Library

•Expenses/Reimbursements •Rules for claiming expenses

•Expense forms

•Who to contact

•Travel

No perfect tool (yet)

Not a replacement for usability testing

What next?

What next?

Better visualisation of results

Testing navigation too

Summary

Tree testing = organisation and labeling

Gives you a rough answer, very early

Brings some objective data to the discussion

Reveals IA problems to u-test later

One more tool for your UX toolkit

Tree testing – further reading

Donna Spencer: paper testing http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_based_classification_evaluation

Dave O’Brien: online tree testing http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/tree-testing

Step Two Designs: tree testing overview http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_treetesting

Measuring Usability: tree testing overview http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/tree-testing-ia.php

Let’s talk IA!

Dave O’Brien

dave@optimalexperience.com

Make like a tree…and leave