Ha, evidently it is a toughie! :) Thanks to all who replied. To answer some questions, as of Friday afternoon, my client was *not* planning on A/B testing... they wanted the use of the beta feature to be opt-in. This was, I thought, easy enough - I designed something much like Martin describes below - but things started to get complicated when they told me about certain things they *weren't* willing to change as part of the beta. I was worried these omissions would confuse users.
Anyway, about 30 minutes after I mailed the list I got an email from the client saying they were planning on using A/B testing after all, and they're going to make those other changes that were previously out of scope. I think they just needed some time to realize that the previous scheme just didn't make sense! So yes, I don't think I need any examples after all now that we're A/B testing, but thanks to everyone who wrote back. And Martin, I think I'll try to track down that podcast, it sounds quite interesting! Thanks! Meredith ________________________________________ From: Martin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 3:01 AM To: Meredith Noble Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] how to position a new "beta" feature -- examples? Hi Meredith, I remember listening to a podcast not too long ago (by Luke W via UIE, IIRC) that talked about how eBay made incremental changes to its design. If memory serves, when they changed their "sell an item" page, they added a link from the old page to the new page, with some text explaining why it would be a good idea to use the new version. I know it's not current, but maybe a similar approach would work here? HTH, -- Martin Polley Technical writer, etc. +972 52 3864280 <http://capcloud.com/> On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 11:49 PM, Meredith Noble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Can anyone think of any sites that are currently offering two versions of a particular *feature*, classic and beta? ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
