Massive Peertester Update!
We’ve been working hard on a bunch of great updates for Peertester and wanted to share some of the improvements with you.
Design Refresh
We’ve done a complete refresh of the Peertester site design. Some of you had some pretty strong opinions about the color green (who would have known!), so we redesigned the site and added some extra polish to the interface.
Dashboard Before
Activity Stream
You’ll see a few new things in the updated dashboard view - one of them is an activity stream. This is an up-to-the-minute feed of all the action going on in Peertester - who’s created a test recently, taken a test, invited a friend, left a comment or rating, or earned a new achievement. Which brings us to the next improvement we’ve been working on for a while now…
Dashboard After
Achievements
The achievement system we previewed as a static, stubbed-in page is now live. That means that not only can you earn points by taking tests, but now you can also earn badges! Your dashboard view, profile page and achievements page will also show you which badges you’ve recently earned, as well as which ones you’re working towards. We’re launching the system with 14 badges, each with between 1 and 7 levels (and in the case of the World Traveler badge, one for each country), but we plan on rolling out even more in the near future.
Achievements
Achievements
Improved My Profile Page
With the new achievement system, we’ve also updated the profile page to make it more helpful. Now you’ll see a list of the tests you’ve created as well as the tests you’ve taken. Your achievement badges - both recently earned and in-progress - are displayed. And the ability to post some personal information, like a link to your website or your hometown location has been added.
My Profile Before
My Profile After
Improved Test Taking
We received a lot of great feedback from beta testers on the testing toolbar and we’ve made some changes as a result. We added a counter which shows you which step you’re currently on and how many steps there are total in the test. We moved the submit button for answers below the answer form and we also added a hide answer panel button which lets you toggle the answer panel open and closed, so you can view the entire test website if you need to.
Test Toolbar Before
Test Toolbar After
We also changed the flow for providing additional comments to the tester, once you’ve completed your test. Now there is a popup window which lets you rate the quality of the test and provide feedback. This also more closely mirrors the flow for starting your test.
Test Feedback Before
Test Feedback After
Improved Test Rating
The concept of rating tests and testers is important for helping authors write better tests and encouraging testers to leave quality feedback. But the 5 star rating scale seemed too granular and testers were prone to rating how effective they thought the test was (to the test author) and not how well-written the test was (which was the intent).
We experimented internally with nero (thumbs up and down) ratings instead of 5 star ratings, but nero ratings also seemed to miss the intent, which is to be help others improve their work, not to “like” or “dislike” something. So we decided to try an emoticon-style rating system of “happy,” “neutral” and “confused.” This did a better job of focusing the rating on the quality of the test and feedback, without being too granular or over-explanatory.
Please let us know if you like this rating mechanism better than the 5 star ratings!
My Tests Before (Ratings)
My Tests After (Ratings)
Test Reporting and Tester Profiles
Previously, after your test had been completed by one or more testers, you were able to view the list of participants, send each participant a message, and drill down into a detail view of each tester’s feedback. But there was no aggregate reporting on how testers responded to your questions, particularly the pre-formatted responses.
Test Page Before
With this update, we’ve added a new test overview page with a summary bar showing helpful information like average test rating, test completion rates and test costs, and test reporting!
The report aggregates the pre-formatted responses in bar chart format and even calculates the “winner” response for you. For free-form responses, the report prints out each response with the testers name and a link to their profile page.
Test Page After (Reports)
Test Page After (Reports)
The test section still includes the list of participants, but now you get an at-a-glance view of ratings for your test and testers, as well as information on how many comments in the feedback thread and who submitted a comment last. If a tester has left you feedback that you haven’t viewed yet, that tester’s name is bolded in the list view.
Test Page After (Participants)
The tester detail page has been updated and shows you detailed information about that tester, including which browser and OS they ran your test using, how long the test took and what country they tested from.
Test Page After (Tester Detail)
We hope you enjoy the update and new features. As always, please let us know what you think and tell us how we can make Peertester even better. Happy testing!
Nick
