Live site testing lets teams test any live website or web app. As a participant, you'll be asked to navigate a website on a desktop browser to complete a task so that organizations can learn from your experience and find ways to improve it.
It is not a test of your ability. There are no wrong or right answers!
Getting started with a live site test is incredibly simple. There's no extra software, desktop extensions, or logins needed.
How to get started
Accessing the study. When you click the live site testing study link provided to you, the study will open in your web browser.
Allowing permissions. The study will then ask for the following permissions. Please enable them when your browser requests permission:
Video recording (dependent on the study)*
Audio recording (required)
Screen recording (required)
Picture in picture (for Google Chrome)
In the case that the picture-in-picture window with the task doesn’t appear on the test website or you have accidentally clicked "Don't allow" for picture-in-picture, please return to the original study tab and enable automatic picture-in-picture permissions by clicking the control icon to the left of the URL.
For screen recording, you will need to share your entire screen.
**If the study creator has made the camera recording option optional, you can click Skip without recording. Otherwise, you'll need to allow the appropriate permissions in order to continue.
Start recording. After selecting your permissions, you’ll be directed to a confirmation page showing your selected permissions and a preview of your video, if you’ve enabled that permission.
Your recording won’t start until you begin the first task.
At this time, screen sharing is not available for mobile across all browsers. If you are accessing the study with a mobile device, you will not be able to begin the live site test.
Completing a live site test
Here’s how it works:
You will be presented with instructions followed by a task with a preview of the website or questions to answer.
The website will open in a new tab. Navigate through the website until you believe you have completed the task. If you have enabled microphone recording, talk through your thinking as you go. This is not a test of your ability, there are no right or wrong answers.
For live site tasks (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge), you will see the task overlaid on the website. You can move or expand/collapse the task box as needed.
Once you feel you have completed the task, hit the task complete button in the task box (available for Chrome or Edge) or return to the original study link (all other browsers) to hit task complete.
Once you have finished all the tasks, please keep the study tab open until your recording has uploaded as indicated by the progress bar. After the recording has finished uploading, you’re free to close this window or navigate to another web page.