Towards a practical method of user interface evaluation.

2007

Software designers and software users have different views of software. Designers see all the parts that make up a system, and which are usually hidden from the users, who only see the interface. Conventional usability evaluation methods strive for objectivity in their measurement of user/system interaction, yet it is often the subjective experience of using a system which is important. propose contextual research as a way of getting hold of this type of data, but a number of problems present themselves. It is difficult to observe users in context without intruding and altering the nature of the interaction, especially as much of the interesting parts of an interaction are internal to the user, and not available for direct observation. Methods such as 'thinking aloud' verbal protocols (which may make such phenomena explicit) are both intrusive, and likely to alter the phenomena being observed.

2007

The paper proposes an approach to comparative usability evaluation that incorporates important relevant criteria identified in previous work. It applies the proposed approach to a case study of a comparative evaluation of an academic website employing four widely-used usability evaluation methods (UEMs): heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, think-aloud protocol and co-discovery learning.

2017

This paper presents a usage analysis and taxonomy of methods which are used to evaluate the usability of computer systems. To accommodate the analysis and taxonomy, a matrix of strategies which can be used for effective usability evaluation is presented. Such an analysis, taxonomy and strategies support human-computer interaction (HCI) professionals who have the responsibility for ensuring computer system usability. The strategies outlined are named Virtual Engineering, Soft Modelling, Hard Review and Real World. This paper also uses a composite set of existing popular generic evaluation methods which can be used as part of these strategies. The methods used are observation, questionnaire, interview, empirical methods, user groups, cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic methods, review methods and model methods. The paper continues by presenting a Usage Analysis Table of these methods and concludes by grouping them into a Taxonomy of Usability Evaluation Methods. A key emphasis of this p...

Analysis, Design and Evaluation of Man–Machine Systems 1995, 1995

One of the main problems of standards (e.g., DIN 66234, ISO 9241) in the context of usability of software quality is, that they can not be measured in product features. We present a new approach to measure user interface quality in a quantitative way. First, we developed a concept to describe user interfaces on a granularity level, that is detailed enough to preserve important interface characteristics, and is general enough to cover most of known interface types. We distinguish between different types of 'interaction points'. With these kinds of interaction points we can describe several types of interfaces (CUI: command, menu, form-fill-in; GUI: desktop, direct manipulation, multimedia, etc.). We carried out two different comparative usability studies to validate our quantitative measures. The results of one other published comparative usability study can be predicted. Results of six different interfaces are presented and discussed.

One of the main problems of standards in the context of usability of software qua- lity is, that they can not be measured in product features. We present a new appro- ach to measure user-interface quality in a quantitative way. First, we developed a concept to describe user-interfaces on a granularity level, that is detailed enough to preserve important interface characteristics, and is general enough to cover most of known interface types. We distinguish between different types of 'inter- action-points'. With these kinds of interaction-points we can describe several types of interfaces (CUI: command, menu, form-fill-in; GUI: desktop, direct manipulation, multimedia, etc.). We carried out two different comparative usa- bility studies to validate our quantitative measures. The results of one other pub- lished comparative usability study can be predicted. Results of six different inter- faces are presented and discussed.

2012

The propose of this paper is to present a literature review, in a grouping of common criteria for usability approaches of Bastien and Scapin (1993), Nielsen (1994), Shnneiderman(1998), Dix et al (1998), Preece et al (2005) and ISO 9241-110 (2006). After establishment of prerequisites for knowledge of the general characteristics of the users who will use the system, are defined and explained the criteria in common: consistency, user control, ease of learning, flexibility, errors management, reduction of excess and visibility system status. Although there is no determination as to which criteria should be considered when developing an interface and each author presents some specificity in their approach, it is observed that there is equivalence in the measures adopted usability. NASSAR, Victor. Common criteria for usability review. In: IEA 2012 – 18º Congresso Mundial de Ergonomia, 2012, Recife. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation. IOS Press, 2012. v.41. p.1053 – 1057

As a basic and important term in the interaction design, usability is an overall rating of the degree of use in the human computer interaction, which guarantees the realization of interaction. Usability test is a necessary process in the human computer interface design. It is a process of through systematically collecting the usability data of interface and assessing and improving the data. Designers can enhance the usability through testing and improving the present interface; designers can also evaluate the usability of the present interface, borrowing its strongpoint, improving its shortcomings, and applying in the new design.Conducting sufficient usability test requires planning and attention to the evaluation details.In common, usability test methods for software take into considerations, planning usability questions, selecting a representative sample and recruiting participant s, and preparing the test materials and actualtest environment.In order to make a way to select an appropriate method to perform a usability test, this paper has introduced the usability test methods in the human computer interface design, then analyzed and summarized the methods and finally state of the art taxonomy is presented.

Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, 2015

Today, the success of a software application strongly depends on the usability of its interface, so the evaluation of interfaces has become a crucial aspect of software engineering. It is recognized that automatic tools for graphical user interface evaluation may greatly reduce the costs of traditional activities performed during expert evaluation or user testing in order to estimate the success probability of an application. However, automatic methods need to be empirically validated in order to prove their effectiveness with respect to the attributes they are supposed to evaluate. In this work, we empirically validate a usability evaluation method conceived to assess consistency aspects of a GUI with no need to analyze the back-end. We demonstrate the validity of the approach by means of a comparative experimental study, where four web sites and a stand-alone interactive application are analyzed and the results compared to those of a human-based usability evaluation. The analysis of the results and the statistical correlation between the tool's rating and humans' average ratings show that the proposed methodology can indeed be a useful complement to standard techniques of usability evaluation.

the quality evaluation topic of human computer interfaces is increasingly attracting researchers’ attention in the information system community. The quality subjective assessment of the interactive systems interfaces using the advanced technology is an important issue which merits attention from researchers. In order to increase the overall satisfaction of users, questionnaire tool is used as one of the main techniques dedicated to aid evaluators to measure users’ perceived qualities. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the quality subjective assessment by defining a conceptual specification for a new automatic questionnaire generating tool able to collect, analyze and criticize the users’ views. The developed questionnaire tool will be used in the context of evaluation of traffic supervision system in Valenciennes (France). The main contribution is to propose a web generation questionnaire environment to provide a subjective evaluation for the interactive systems interfaces. It includes the proposed questionnaire model and describes the applied subjective evaluation process based on ISO 14598 norms.

Advances in Systems Analysis, Software Engineering, and High Performance Computing

This chapter aims to identify, analyze, and classify the methodologies and methods described in the literature for the usability evaluation of systems and services based on information and communication technologies. The methodology used was a systematic review of the literature. The studies included in the analysis were classified into empirical and analytical methodologies (test, inquiry, controlled experiment, or inspection). A total of 2116 studies were included, of which 1308 were classified. In terms of results, the inquiry methodology was the most frequent in this review, followed by test, inspection, and finally, the controlled experiment methodology. A combination of methodologies is relatively common, especially the combination of test and inquiry methodologies, probably because they assess different but complementary aspects of usability contributing to a more comprehensive assessment.