Tracing paper as a test tool. Who knew?
Scott Berkun has been doing a couple web site usability reviews recently. In review 5 he overlays a wireframe on the site he is talking about. It occurs to me that I do not have the photoshop skills to go apply this technique against a live copy of a site (efficiently).
I do however have enough skill to print it out and trace the elements out. You don’t want to block out things on the actual print because you want to be able to see the blocks in isolation. Which brings us to the tracing paper. What better way to trace something than with a product designed specifically for it?
So the next time you find yourself testing a web layout, think about pulling out the trusty tracing paper and see if the layout makes sense without all the noise of the content.