Screen Recording Software for Usability Testing

For usability testing on an application, a system or a Website, users are trying to finish the assigned task on computer. It is an important part to recording what users do on screen and publishing the process as videos for analysis. The content of videos can include screen activity such as mouse movement and click, page scroll and keystroke.

A video of these mouse movements, keystrokes, and other activities is most helpful for usability testing. Without good observational skills, it is difficult to remember what happened in the test. A video of screen recording not only helps you recall what happened on the screen, it provides more details to analyze and compare the processes between individuals.

There are various Windows screen recorder available. Most of them are free to try before buy and some of them with simple recording feature are even free. You can choose the one fits your need.

Screen recording software will slows down your computer performance more or less, but it is the best way to do the recording of the desktop compared to camcorder or VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). Besides, now hardware requirements are no longer the hurdle as they used to be.

The following requirements of screen recording software can satisfy most usability testing situations:

Optimize recording settings.

Recording at lower frame rate and lower resolution(like 800×600) in lower color depth(16-bit color)has no obvious impact on system performance. If you can disable your hardware acceleration, you can get better result.

Unobtrusive recording.

Most of the tools will not completely disappear while recording, but they all reduce to a small icon in the toolbar. And now a few screen recorders enable users to hide the system tray icon. So users will not be distracted or feel anxiety by being reminded of recording.

Instant playback.

In this technique usability test, users are doing the assigned task and their screen activities are in recording. When the task is completely they are shown the video and asked to conduct a think aloud. It’s best to watch the video right after the test to minimize forgetting.

Pause, Fast Forward, and Rewind.

Some common video formats are nice because they can be played with video player. Some of the tools use a special video format with special player should have a pause feature and preferably fast-forward and rewind.
Here were a few other features for usability testing but they are not critical.

Record Sound.

If the usability testing is concern with audio, it will be better to get a screen recording application with sound recording feature to do the recording. And now more and more applications supports sound recording from multiple sources such as Microphone, Rear Input, and Stereo Mix. And it can be used to record the interview dialogue after session with participants.

Editing feature.

This enables users to edit callouts to illustrate some special procedures in the recorded video after the test. Some notes can be added according to the after test interview.

Hotkeys.

To minimize futzing in testing sessions, hotkeys for important commands like Record, Pause, Play, and Stop is a useful feature.
Screen recording softwareDemoCreator is mainly designed for creating software tutorials and system demos. However, it can be a useful tool for usability testing. And now more and more requirements of usability test are considered in the design of screen recording software.
Note:

People may think there is one limitation to the software approach - it only records what happens on the screen but users themselves. If you want to learn something from the body language and physical movements of the user then you still need a camcorder. Now the good news is some screen recorders also support the webcam recording and picture-in-picture video. They can record the video of your webcam while recording screen activity.

How to make an effective sceencast

A screencast is a video of onscreen activity. It is a helpful tool to show technical tasks, or to illustrate technical concepts hard to explain in words. It might take the form of a formal narrated presentation, a software demo, or an informal walk-through of a particular concept. It can be readily distributed by blog posts, RSS feeds, tags, and social media video hosts like YouTube. These media enable users to share screencasts with a distributed audience, and people can get portable training with podcasts.

But, how to make an effective screencast?

Some important tips from Microsoft to prepare your computer for screen recording:

To improve your computer’s performance during the screen-capture session, especially if you plan to capture the entire computer screen, reduce the screen resolution and color quality. You can set your computer according to the following screencast:


If you plan to capture full-motion video during your screen-capture session, disable your computer's hardware acceleration. That will make your computer runs more smoothly when in recording. There is another screencast to show you the steps:

Then, close the unneeded programs. This helps clear the clutter from the screen and reduce problem of device of resource conflicts.

When everything is ready, just make a compelling screencast according the following tips.

1. Develop an audio narration for your screencast.

Write voice narration scripts for the screencast. The best scripts are written word-for-word to ensure the audio track is never silent. It doesn’t mean that there must be narration for the entire screencast - musical transitions might be appropriate. Now screen recorder like DemoCreator allows user to import music as the background audio to enhance the demonstration.

A solid script will follow good marketing and sales techniques. So ensure that your script doesn’t just explain how to perform a task, but ensure it properly highlights the features and benefits of the product/service being demoed. By continually pointing out the features of the product/service and then going further to explain why they’re beneficial to the audience you make a more stunning screencast.

2. Rehearse the video recording

Practice delivery while moving the mouse. In the task you will handle, how much time will be spent describing an operation, what will you say to highlight a feature, and when will you zoom on an area for details, you should get a feel for controlling the timing. During your rehearsal, ensure that you are speaking clearly and slowly.

3. Record the Screencast

Launch the screen recording software and select the area on the screen, then start your screencasting. When the recording is over, preview your screencast. You can edit or rerecord the audio and modify the video, or rerecord the screencast or audio narration until you are satisfied. Just record the minimum area, that will make your publishing files smaller.

4. Edit the screencast

Now the editing features come to be popular in screen recording software.You can delete unnecessary video and audio content as you wish. Also, you can insert new video, graphics, or audio clips to decorate the screencast.

For example, you can add zoom and pan effect to show the specific area in details, you can spotlighting an area of the recording, and you can put a clickable button to direct users to your website. In one word, users can decorate the movie by adding the objects to make the illustration explicit.

5. Publish your screencast

There are some publishing options:
For widely sharing, publish your video as .avi or .wmv file and upload the file to the Youtube.com or Vimeo.com web service.
Publish as a Flash movie and generate HTML files to be uploaded to a website for access by web browsers.
If you are going to send your screencast to another, EXE format could be a good option. It is an executable format can be run without any player.
And you may create SCORM or AICC compliant demo packages for being uploaded to LMS like SharePoint, Moodle or Blackboard.

Screencast Tools

What screen recording software you need depends on your utility and what effect you want to achieve. DemoCreator could be a good option.