UI stress test checklist

The following checklist can be used to verify how well a prototype deals with a series of edge cases that aren't that 'edgy'.

Generic

• Custom DPI settings
  • high, 125 dpi
  • insanely high, above 160 dpi

• Accessibility
  • Use a screen reader
• Custom themes (explanation)
• Navigation
  • Keyboard-only
    • Tab order
• Mouse-only
• Layouts and window resizing
• Minimal window size
  • test on a netbook with 1024x600
• Right-to-left vs left-to-write locales of the OS
• Images, vectors vs rasters (see how icons look like at different DPI settings)
• Run on different versions of Windows
• Run the program with mangled UI strings and see whether people can figure out how to use the software

Rare stuff

• Right-hand bias - some interfaces are biased against left-handed people.

Platform specific

• Test the HIG-compliance of the program for the given environment.

Windows 7

• Use the Taskbar API when appropriate
  • progress bars (as in Internet Explorer and many others)
  • jump lists (as in Word)
  • preview window (as in Opera, Internet Explorer)
  • custom controls (as in VMWare player, Windows media player, etc)