Starting today, you’ll no longer have to rely on usability gurus to tell you what works and what doesn’t on your websites and blogs! No, we’re not dissing user experience pros. Chances are their advice has been spot on all along. But now, thanks to some ingenious code warriors at TapeFailure.com, you’ll know for sure.
In brief, TapeFailure let’s you record user actions as they browse your site and play them back just like a movie. We think the service is the next step in the evolution of web site analysis software.
Here’s how it works: You create an account. Login in. The service generates a piece of code. Copy the code and paste it onto any web page you’d like to track. TapeFailure monitors visitors as they use your site, recording their actions along the way. Recordings are saved as video files that you can watch and analyze on-demand.
Before any privacy advocates get alarmed, the service does not capture personal information nor does it follow your users around the internet (a big relief for many internet users, we’re sure). Instead, it captures mouse movements, scrolling, and other useful information designers can use to improve the utility of the sites they design.
TapeFailure also allows you to view statistical information (browser type, operating system, length of visit, etc.) just like other popular website analysis tools. But, when combined with on-demand video playback, TapeFailure becomes much more valuable than your average stat tracking package.
The service is still new and the developers are hard at work making improvements. We experienced several glitches while the service was just getting started, but eventually we got the service up and running. It’s a bit slow at times, but the video information it collects is worth the wait.
