Abba - JavaScript a/b testing • Hacker News Board

Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#1

Post by olivercameron » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 5:46 PM UTC

Abba - JavaScript a/b testing
blog.alexmaccaw.com

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#2

Post by kvirani » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

The screenshot of the chart shows 217 conversions from 184 visitors, which isn't right... is it?

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#3

Post by matsiyatzy » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:27 PM UTC

It's a bit confusing that this has the same name as another (pretty well known) a/b test calculator: http://www.thumbtack.com/labs/abba/

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#4

Post by karolisd » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:30 PM UTC

Very interesting. I'll have to try it out. The first thing I'll look at is how it deals with the jQuery changes being visible to the visitors (aka flicker/flashing). Do you hide the page and wait for document to be ready?

Do you do continuous checking of the DOM like Optimizely? Diagram: http://support.optimizely.com/customer/portal/articles/45288...

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#5

Post by maccman » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:36 PM UTC

kvirani wrote: post #2

The screenshot of the chart shows 217 conversions from 184 visitors, which isn't right... is it?

You're correct - I mocked up that screenshot and looks like I made a mistake, my bad!

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#6

Post by maccman » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:39 PM UTC

karolisd wrote: post #4

Very interesting. I'll have to try it out. The first thing I'll look at is how it deals with the jQuery changes being visible to the visitors (aka flicker/flashing). Do you hide the page and wait for document to be ready? Do you do continuous checking of the DOM like Optimizely? Diagram: http://support.optimizely.com/customer/portal/articles/45288...

The trick is to place your a/b testing JavaScript right after the relevant DOM elements, and not do a/b testing on DOMReady or window.load. That'll ensure there's no flickering.

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#7

Post by mrgreenfur » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:49 PM UTC

Thank you for releasing this!

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#8

Post by danmaz74 » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:52 PM UTC

Cool. But if you already use google analytics and are lazy like me and don't want to set anything up server side, you can also consider ABalytics: https://github.com/danmaz74/ABalytics

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#9

Post by karolisd » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 6:53 PM UTC

maccman wrote: post #6

karolisd wrote: post #4

Very interesting. I'll have to try it out. The first thing I'll look at is how it deals with the jQuery changes being visible to the visitors (aka flicker/flashing). Do you hide the page and wait for document to be ready? Do you do continuous checking of the DOM like Optimizely? Diagram: http://support.optimizely.com/customer/portal/articles/45288...

The trick is to place your a/b testing JavaScript right after the relevant DOM elements, and not do a/b testing on DOMReady or window.load. That'll ensure there's no flickering.

I'm just hoping someone comes up with perfect way I can just put a script in the head and not worry about flickering. So I don't have to hide the body with CSS and make it visible when the script finishes. Optimizely seems to be getting there, but it's not perfect. (And kind of awkward, why can't browsers provide a better way to target elements as they come into existence?)

Re: Abba - JavaScript a/b testing

#10

Post by togasystems » Tue, Mar 12, 2013, 7:31 PM UTC

I wonder if segment.io will be able to interface with this?