Digital.gov Guide
Testing and assessment
This guide provides information on ways to validate your design and content to ensure they meet user needs.
Content highlighter testing
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Method: Content highlighter tests
What
A content highlighter test is a way to test whether users find content to be clear. Users highlight text that they think is clear in one color. Then they highlight text they think is confusing in a different color.
Why
Content highlighter tests show you which content is clear and which is confusing. These tests can help clarify how to improve the content.
How to do it
- Select the content you want to test.
- Determine how you will conduct the test. You can do it in person, on paper, or online. If you conduct the test online, choose an application that your users are familiar with and allows content highlighting.
- Define what you are testing. Determine what qualities you want to test for. You can ask users to highlight:
- Clear content and then confusing content
- Content that makes them feel confident and then content that makes them feel less confident
- Pick the colors. Assign a color for each quality and explain what the colors mean. For example, "Use the green highlighter for information that is clear. Use the blue highlighter for information that is confusing."
- Write instructions. If you conduct the test online, prepare instructions that explain:
- How the test will work
- What the colors mean
- How to highlight text
- How long the test will take
- Start the test. Ask the user to read the text and highlight content according to your criteria.
- Discuss users' highlights. It can be useful to discuss their highlights during the test for longer pieces of content. You can also wait until after they are done highlighting to discuss it with them.
- Encourage users to describe why they highlighted passages. For example, "What did you find confusing about that sentence?"
- Analyze the results. Ask key questions like:
- What did users think was clear?
- What was confusing?
- How did the results differ across sessions?
- Identify priority content improvements based on the results.
Time required
1 to 2 hours per test
