Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Test Environment & Tools 
The pilot study was conducted in a large and spacious office which was free 
from clutter, bright and well ventilated so as to provide as pleasant and 
natural a working environment as possible. Refreshments were provided for 
participants. The layout of the test equipment and the work area is shown 
in Figure 3. 
The test was conducted on a PC with a Pentium III 2.4GHz processor, 
256MB of RAM, a CD-R drive and a 40 GB hard disk. A video camera 
was positioned to the right of the participant at a distance which allowed 
the camera to be as inconspicuous and unobtrusive as possible while still be-
ing able to record the participant and the surrounding area. The aim of this 
was to record not just the participant’s face but also the user guide while it 
was being used. This was important in order to record the length of time 
the user guide was used aand the way in which it was used (i.e. leafing 
through the pages or carefully reading each page). 
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page 189) was used. Based on the core knowledge required to perform the 

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Assessing Usability 
Figure 3: Usability Laboratory Layout 
It is also clear from the diagram that the test administrator remained in the 
room during the test. Although the benefits of indirect observation are clear 
with viewing and intercom facilities (see Schneiderman 1998:128) commu-
nication with the participant would have been extremely difficult if not im-
possible. Secondly, having the test administrator in the same room as the 
participant made it possible for the test administrator to intervene and pro-
vide assistance if necessary. This is particularly useful when using interde-
therefore, much easier to administer the test. 
Two items of software were specially installed on the PC: the test soft-
ware (DigiLog) and the screen logging software (Camtasia).