Floating Usability Test Lab!

Web Marketing Resources offers the only floating usability lab we know of. As a dedicated sailor, I decided to try some testing aboard. Since my teens, I have lived aboard sailboats for 5 years or more. I do actually work from the boat when possible, using a broadband card. Truthfully, we rarely test on the boat. We try to test users in the environment they are most likely to be using when they visit the subject site (or software). Most of our testing is done either in a work environment, in homes or occasionally in a usability lab. It is very important to mimic the actual user environment for the kind of testing we do.

Enjoy the photos, if you have any questions, I am always available to talk sailing!

Inside Steering Station - and test space	"Outlier" at anchor, Allens Island, Muscongus Bay - Maine 2007

In Vineyard Haven during Hurricane Noel (I am aboard, note dinghy)	Another Hurricane Noel view, winds hit 90 on the Cape nearby (still aboard)

Barred Island Sunset - looking north.	Barred Islands Sunrise - Penobscot Bay Maine 2007


The "Bonnie Lynn" outside Rockland Maine harbor 2007	Going to lengths to talk with a customer on the Cell phone
"Outlier" on her 6000 lb winter mooring in "The Lagoon" Vineyard Haven, MA	Leaving Tenant's Harbor Maine, heading back to the Vineyard 2007
Alden's hull contour Lines - traditional and beautiful	Alden's Layout
Alden's Cabin Views	Rip Harwood joins me to sail Penobscot Bay after a 25 year hiatus, photo taken atop Butter Island

"Outlier" is a John Alden designed 44' ketch built in 1968. A proven world cruiser, she is an unusual design for her time allowing 360 degree vistas from inside her cabin. She is comfortable for 4. I sailed her from Beaufort North Carolina to Maine via New Haven CT before I diagnosed a particularly thorny engine problem which had kept it inoperable until we reached Maine. Having sailed a few thousand often challenging miles without an engine, I can say that I am comfortable with her sailing characteristics. I wrote up some of the more exciting adventures which I will happily forward upon email request.

So if you are on the New England coast next summer and might like to be a usability test participant, give a call and we'll see what is available. (We pay our test participants in cash.)