Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests, Second Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Welcome to the revised, improved second edition of Handbook of Usability Testing. It has been 14 long years since this book first went to press, and I'd like to thank all the readers who have made the Handbook so successful, and especially those who communicated their congratulations with kind words.

In the time since the first edition went to press, much in the world of usability testing has changed dramatically. For example, "usability," "user experience," and "customer experience," arcane terms at best back then, have become rather commonplace terms in reviews and marketing literature for new products. Other notable changes in the world include the Internet explosion, (in its infancy in '94) the transportability and miniaturization of testing equipment, (lab in a bag anyone?), the myriad methods of data collection such as remote, automated, and digitized, and the ever-shrinking life cycle for introducing new technological products and services. Suffice it to say, usability testing has gone mainstream and is no longer just the province of specialists. For all these reasons and more, a second edition was necessary and, dare I say, long overdue.

The most significant change in this edition is that there are now two authors, where previously, I was the sole author. Let me explain why. I have essentially retired from usability consulting for health reasons after 30 plus years. When our publisher, Wiley, indicated an interest in updating the book, I knew ...