Tree testing
# Tree testing

Tree testing is a usability technique for evaluating the findability of topics in a website. It is also known as reverse card sorting or card-based classification.

A large website is typically organized into a hierarchy (a "tree") of topics and subtopics. Tree testing provides a way to measure how well users can find items in this hierarchy.

Unlike traditional usability testing, tree testing is not done on the website itself; instead, a simplified text version of the site structure is used. This ensures that the structure is evaluated in isolation, nullifying the effects of navigational aids, visual design, and other factors.

## Basic method

In a typical tree test:

* The participant is given a "find it" task (e.g., "Look for men's belts under $25").
* They are shown a text list of the top-level topics of the website.
* They choose a heading, and are then shown a list of subtopics.
* They continue choosing (moving down through the tree, backtracking if necessary) until they find a topic that satisfies the task (or until they give up).
* They do several tasks in this manner, starting each task back at the top of the tree.
* Once several participants have completed the test, the results are analyzed.

## Analyzing the results

The analysis typically tries to answer these questions:

* Could users successfully find particular items in the tree?
* Could they find those items directly, without having to backtrack?
* If they couldn't find items, where did they go astray?
* Could they choose between topics quickly, without having to think too much?
* Overall, which parts of the tree worked well, and which fell down?

## Tools

Tree testing was originally done on paper (typically using index cards), but can now also be conducted using specialized software.

