Tools of the Trade

Here are a few popular and easily accessible tools for UX professionals. The tools aren’t exclusive to UX professionals; developers, designers and interaction designers, among others, use them as well.

Wireframing and Prototyping Applications

Wireframing and prototyping can be done simply with pen and paper. Paper prototyping, in particular, has many benefits, such as being inexpensive, conducive to group prototyping and quick and easy to produce.

Some software-based wire-framing and prototyping tools are:

• OmniGraffle
• Balsamiq Mockups
• Mockingbird
• Axure
• Gliffy 

A/B Testing Software

A/B testing (also known as split testing or multivariate testing) compares different versions of a page, and it can be conducted with any of several programs.

Basically, A/B testing software splits a website’s traffic into two equal segments. One group sees version A, and the other group sees version B. Statistics such as conversion rate and bounce rate are tracked for each version. Split testing determines which version is better based on these statistics. One of the most popular applications for A/B testing is Google’s Website Optimizer. 

Content Inventory Software

There are plenty of methods of conducting a content inventory. Using an on-site server application (for which you’ll require access to the Web server) is best for production websites; being closer to the source than third-party software, these applications will naturally be more accurate and efficient. You can use as simple a tool as Excel to create and manage a content inventory (check out the GetUXIndex() template).

Websites built with content management systems such as WordPress and Drupal typically have built-in tools that show a map of the existing website.

User Testing and Feedback Software

Interviewing users is another popular UX design task. The most effective and cost-saving way to do this is with a surveying or feedback app and remote user testing.

User feedback tools are abundant. General survey tools such as PollDaddy are flexible solutions that can be used for other tasks, too. There are usability-specific feedback tools, such as Usabilla, and remote user-testing services, such as Feedback Army, which administer usability tests on reviewers.

However, after some research I have discovered another concept called rapid interaction testing. The concept here is to pair the designer/developer with the user-experience architect. This gives the project manager the opportunity to complete tasks and milestones effectively and in a timely manner. On the more human-sider it gives the developer more of an opportunity to feel as though they are not just receiving marching orders from the ux architect but they are actually seeing the rationality to the redesign.

Analytics Software

UX designers can analyze traffic statistics to hypothesize what types of experiences would be most effective for the audience of the website.

Let’s say the data indicates that the most popular browser for a website is Google Chrome. Google Chrome is regarded as a power user’s browser (as opposed to Internet Explorer, which is more mainstream). From that assumption, a UX designer can craft user experiences that appeal to power users and tech-savvy people.

A feature-packed and free analytics tool is Google Analytics.