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blog > 2008 > 01 > 11 >

The Cringe Test

Back when I was editing Alibi Phone Network in 2004, I found that cuts that seemed fine to me when I watched them alone would make me cringe when I watched them with a friend. I didn't even need to get feedback from the other viewer; I just got embarrassed at certain points and immediately wanted to start making excuses. I dubbed this approach to testing the "cringe test".

I discovered a couple of days ago that the test is useful for websites too. I was showing a friend Quisition for the first time, and without him saying a word I started thinking to myself "oh no, it's not clear where he has to click" or "it's not obvious what that means; I should have explained that better".

Comments (1)

marke on Jan. 24, 2008:

Isn't this the same effect as exploited in the XP (Extreme Programming, not the microsoft thing) pair programming methodology? Having someone else looking at the editable makes you focus much more on the thing itself and less on your internal vision of it. So not only does the non-coding (at that moment) partner pick up errors, they force you to notice them yourself.