Validate
Tree Testing
Testing whether people can find things using only a menu’s words, before any visual design.
What is Tree Testing?
Testing whether people can find things using only a menu’s words, before any visual design.
What you learn
Test the menu’s words alone. Wrong first clicks show bad labels.
When it helps
people pick the wrong category, or you need to test labels before building pages.
Use it at work
- Write the menu as a plain text list.
- Give people tasks: “Where would you find...?”
- Record their first click and where they end up.
- Rename any label that draws many wrong first clicks.
Your output
Before visual design, test your menu as plain text with 20 people and five tasks. Fix labels where first clicks go wrong.
Watch for
Testing navigation only with finished designs, or not at all.
Related practices
Sources
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