Usurping the (Useless?) Utilization of the Usual Usability Test with Gratuitous Substitutes

The following article uses a project I am developing for a friend of mine, Kyle Britt, as a case study.

One might think that I'd be remarkably adept in formulating a robustly rigorous usability testing plan. Why would one think this? Well, admittedly, I served for a brief time as Usability Research Assistant at the Simmons GSLIS Usability Lab. Unfortunately, if one assumed my deft aptitude, one would be sorely mistaken. Though slated to assist in the development and facilitation of the usability testing plan for the new redesign at my current place of employment, I am abhorrently clueless about the subject.

Disclaimer done.

Here's the lowdown, dirty: there's an ideal situation and then there's reality. Constrained by limited availability of time and labor, and compounded by an unfortunate dearth of expertise, I can't really achieve much. Reality bites. Therefore, I'll just start by saying that an intensively comprehensive evaluation of this site is impossible. (Or is it?) Here I am, alone in this venture; financial and temporal feasibility of an adequate test dangerously low, even a traditional testing scenario involving just a few users proving decidedly most difficult.

That said, given the tools that are readily available (on the Internet and through Imagineering) in concert with the enormity of Kyle's network of friends and clients, many of whom use Macs (there's a point to that...), there actually (that is, in reality; no, really) is a lot that I can accomplish! So, to that end, rather than spend my time contemplating the rainbows, sunshine, ice cream, and ponies that could be (In Dreams), I thought, "Why not investigate the options, of which there are many, available to me for conducting these here usability testing-thingies on a shoestring and a smile?" In other words, why not look into something that I could potentially achieve in the next three weeks?

So, to reiterate redundantly, what I'm going to do here is talk about a few options available to me and those like me who are working alone on a site, haven't any money or time to spare, and are just plain sick of sitting days on end in a usability lab staring at the walls. Simultaneously, I'll construct some qualitative and quantitative questions to quash any would-be quips about my quibbling and quandary-inducing cacophony of characteristically culpable crimes against all good taste and decency. OK?

OK. Onto the plan.