While this topic has generated mountains of discussion, I found only one mention of usability testing. In the case of setting up printers, a few user tests would have done wonders for revealing the barriers to success. The developer could probably fix such problems without trouble or if necessary document the critical impasses. While style guides and best practices are useful to someone building something, actual testing is invaluable for revealing critical, show stopping problems. Given how easy it is to test, it's a shame that more people don't use it to reveal weaknesses and improve their software.
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While this topic has generated mountains of discussion, I found only one mention of usability testing. In the case of setting up printers, a few user tests would have done wonders for revealing the barriers to success. The developer could probably fix such problems without trouble or if necessary document the critical impasses. While style guides and best practices are useful to someone building something, actual testing is invaluable for revealing critical, show stopping problems. Given how easy it is to test, it's a shame that more people don't use it to reveal weaknesses and improve their software.