User Experience is an umbrella term used to describe all the factors that contribute to a site user?s overall perception of a system. The user, rather than the system, is placed at the center of the design process. This approach, called ?user-centered design? incorporates user concerns and advocacy from the beginning of the design process and dictates that the needs of the user should be foremost in any design decisions.

The design of a strong User Experience includes tasks and elements surrounding the creation of the presentation layer of a system: business objectives, user needs analysis, functional specification, content requirements, interaction design, information architecture, interface design, information design and visual design.

Usability refers to the measurement of the User Experience. Usability concepts and principles can be used to measure the quality of the User Experience. Usability analysis can be conducted by any person who is trained in assessing screens using usability principles. Usability testing implements more formal methods of using usability principles to measure the user experience. There are many different types of tests that can be used, from simple paper prototyping to comprehensive user performance testing.

Usability testing can sometimes be conducted in collaboration with QA cycles and, certainly, QA personnel can be trained to help identify usability concerns. In an effort to produce the best product possible, the symbiotic relationship between User Experience and Usability must be utilized as much as possible. Collaboration between teams will go far in supporting this goal.