Previously, I wrote about a new online service I found online called; fivesecondtest. To me, it’s a free online user interface design test service. The invaluable benefit of putting your design up for a test is you’ll get user centric feedback. Though this isn’t a full fledged usability test.
Anyway, here are a few reasons I noticed why it may be unhealthy to use this to test too often. When I say often, it’s sitting and reviewing 4-5 continuous homepage designs.
Grown accustom to a single viewpoint
For example, website users have developed the habit of expecting the logo to be the top left and the main menu either top or left. If you reviewed 4-5 homepage designs continuously, your reviews isn’t from a fresh perspective anymore.
Eyes maintain previous viewing area
Image playing a shooter game where enemies spawned at the same place – same concept. By the fifth homepage design, your eyes are not wandering around the monitor but fixed on an area now.
Well, these were 2 observations I came across when I did some of the tests continuously. However, I personally still believe this is a great service and would love to see other features like:
- Ability to set custom duration time
- Mouse gesture tracking (CrazyEgg API integration maybe)
- API availability
Have you tried the fivesecondtest? What did you think of it?