Showing papers on "Usability goals published in 2017"

Automatic detection of usability smells in web applications

Abstract: Usability assessment of web applications continues to be an expensive and often neglected practice. While large companies are able to spare resources for studying and improving usability in their products, smaller businesses often divert theirs in other aspects. To help these cases, researches have devised automatic approaches for user interaction analysis, and there are commercial services that offer automated usability statistics at relatively low fees. However, most existing approaches still fall short in specifying the usability problems concretely enough to identify and suggest solutions. In this work we describe usability smells of user interaction, i.e., hints of usability problems on running web applications, and the process in which they can be identified by analyzing user interaction events. We also describe USF, the tool that implements the process in a fully automated way with minimum setup effort. USF analyses user interaction events on-the-fly, discovers usability smells and reports them together with a concrete solution in terms of a usability refactoring, providing usability advice for deployed web applications.

Academic methods for usability evaluation of serious games: a systematic review

Abstract: In the last years, there has been an increasing interest in the design of video games as a tool for education, training, health promotion, socialization, etc. Usability, which is a key factor in any video game, becomes even more important in these so-called "serious games", where the users' special characteristics should be considered, and the game efficacy depends on the users' adherence and engagement. However, evaluation of the usability of this kind of games requires a redefinition of techniques, methods and even terminology. In this paper, we elicit six research questions and conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature, which resulted in the selection of 187 papers that contained the most relevant responses. The conclusions of this systematic review illustrate the general status of current academic usability evaluations of these games and the main trends in the selection of methodologies and how are they applied. This view may be a very valuable foundation for future research.

Reporting Usability Defects: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract: Usability defects can be found either by formal usability evaluation methods or indirectly during system testing or usage. No matter how they are discovered, these defects must be tracked and reported. However, empirical studies indicate that usability defects are often not clearly and fully described. This study aims to identify the state of the art in reporting of usability defects in the software engineering and usability engineering literature. We conducted a systematic literature review of usability defect reporting drawing from both the usability and software engineering literature from January 2000 until March 2016. As a result, a total of 57 studies were identified, in which we classified the studies into three categories: reporting usability defect information, analysing usability defect data and key challenges . Out of these, 20 were software engineering studies and 37 were usability studies. The results of this systematic literature review show that usability defect reporting processes suffer from a number of limitations, including: mixed data, inconsistency of terms and values of usability defect data, and insufficient attributes to classify usability defects. We make a number of recommendations to improve usability defect reporting and management in software engineering.

Patient experience design: expanding usability methodologies for healthcare

Abstract: Successfully engaging in a health- or medical-related activity is a matter of understanding what one needs to do. This means information used in this context needs to be easy to use. Accomplishing the goals laid out in the essay will facilitate understanding and allow for effective use. Thus, successful medical and health communication are connected to one central concept: usability. But how to achieve this goal? The answer is through patient-focused design practices that help mirror the experiences of patients who are using such materials. This entry overviews such an approach - which I call patient experience design (PXD) - and explains why such an approach is central to best health and medical communication practices.

Quality assurance of academic websites using usability testing: an experimental study with AHP

Abstract: Considering the competitive business scenario of the IT world, websites are the key aspect for satisfying the user’s demands. Thus, usability evaluation is the hidden measure to succeed in this competitive environment. Measuring user satisfaction is a hindering job because of lack of appropriate methodologies. This paper addresses these issues by considering AHP based usability evaluation technique to measure the usability score of a website. The proposed methodology evaluates user satisfaction for three different websites based on feedback mechanism for different usability attributes. Feedback is collected using Questionnaire methodology. AHP is a multi-criteria decision making algorithm that proves to be the reliable way for the user to make a decision for choosing the best website that fulfills user satisfaction.

Usability and User Experience Evaluation of Learning Management Systems - A Systematic Mapping Study.

Abstract: Background: Advances in technology made possible the development of powerful platforms called Learning Management Systems (LMSs), designed to help the teaching and learning process. Studies show that usability and User Experience (UX) of such platforms may influence in this process. Although several studies had been conducted in this area, most of them are at initial stages and need improvements or deeper empirical studies. Aim: This work aims to analyze scientific publications in order to characterize the usability and UX evaluation techniques in the context of LMSs. Method: We performed a systematic mapping study regarding the usability and UX evaluation techniques in the context of LMSs. Results: A total of 62 publications were accepted in this mapping, which helped identifying the techniques used to evaluate the usability and UX of LMSs and their characteristics such as its origin, type, performing method, learning factors, restriction and availability. Conclusion: Several studies were conducted regarding the evaluation of LMSs. However, there are still some gaps such as the lack of techniques with some features, e.g., feedback with suggestions to correct the identified problems. Besides, there is no sufficient evidence of which of them is best suited for this context.

To intervene or not to intervene: An investigation of three think-aloud protocols in usability testing

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study investigating the use of three think-aloud methods in website usability testing: the concurrent think-aloud, the speech-communication, and the active intervention methods. These three methods were compared through an evaluation of a library website, which involved four points of comparison: overall task performance, test participants’ experiences, the quantity and quality of usability problems discovered, and the cost of employing the methods. Data were collected from 60 individuals, with 20 participants allocated to each testing method, who were asked to complete a set of nine experimental tasks. The results of the study revealed that the three variations enabled the identification of a similar number of usability problems and types. However, the active intervention method was found to cause some reactivity, modifying participants’ interaction with the interface, and negatively affecting their feelings towards the evaluator. The active intervention method also required much greater investment than did the other two methods in terms of evaluators' time.

Customizable automatic detection of bad usability smells in mobile accessed web applications

Abstract: Remote usability evaluation enables the possibility of analysing users' behaviour in their daily settings. We present a method and an associated tool able to identify potential usability issues through the analysis of client-side logs of mobile Web interactions. Such log analysis is based on the identification of specific usability smells. We describe an example set of bad usability smells, and how they are detected. The tool also allows evaluators to add new usability smells not included in the original set. We also report on the tool use in analysing the usability of a real, widely used application accessed by forty people through their smartphones whenever and wherever they wanted.

Integration of artificial intelligence activities in software development processes and measuring effectiveness of integration

Abstract: Recently, the modelling of whole process of software (SW) development is performed using extended waterfall and agile models. The further advancement of extended waterfall and agile models in the main phases like communication, planning, modelling, construction and deployment can improve the overall quality of the product. Accordingly, in this study, artificial intelligence (AI) activities are integrated into SW development processes. The important AI activities like intelligent agents, machine learning (ML), knowledge representation, statistical model, probabilistic methods, and fuzzy are integrated into the extended waterfall model. Again, AI activities like intelligent decision making, ML, Turing test, search and optimisation are integrated into the agile model. Two metrics such as, Usability Goals Achievement Metric and Index of Integration are evaluated in five independent SW projects. Once SW projects are developed using these models, feedback queries have been collected formally and the collected data are extensively analysed to identify the individual characteristics of products, identifying correlation behaviour of products with respect to model and metrics.

A model for evaluating the security and usability of e-banking platforms

Abstract: Convenience and the ability to perform advanced transactions encourage banks clients to use e-banking systems. As security and usability are two growing concerns for e-banking users, banks have invested heavily in improving their web portals security and user experience and trust in them. Despite considerable efforts to evaluate particular security and usability features in e-banking systems, a dedicated security and usability evaluation model that can be used as a guide in the development of e-banking assets remains much less explored. To build a comprehensive security and usability evaluation framework, we first extract security and usability evaluation metrics from the conducted literature review and then include several other evaluation metrics that were not previously identified in the literature. We then propose a structured inspection model for thoroughly evaluating the usability and security of internal and external e-banking assets. We argue that the proposed e-banking security and usability evaluation frameworks in the literature in addition to the existing standards of security best practices (e.g., NIST and ISO) are by no means comprehensive and lack some essential and key evaluation metrics that are of particular interest to e-banking portals. In order to demonstrate the inadequacy of existing models, we use the proposed framework to evaluate five major banks. The evaluation reveals several shortcomings in identifying both missing or incorrectly implemented security and privacy features. Our goal is to encourage other researchers to build upon our work.

Trading off usability and security in user interface design through mental models

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to establish the foundations for developing a mental model that bridges the gap between usability and security in user-centred designs. To this purpose, a meta-model has been developed to align design features with the users’ requirements through tacit knowledge elicitation. The meta-model describes the combinatorial relationships of Security, Usability and Mental SUM and how these components can be used to design a usable and secure system. The SUM meta-model led to the conclusion that there is no antagonism between usability and security. However, the degree of usable security depends on the ability of the designer to capture and implement the user’s tacit knowledge. In fact, the SUM meta-model seeks the dilution of the trading-off effects between security and usability through compensating synergism of the tacit knowledge. A usability security cognitive map has been developed for the major constituents of usability and security to clarify the interactions and their influences on the meta-model stipulations. The three intersecting areas of the three components’ relationships are manipulated to expand the Optimal Equilibrium Solution OES δ expanse. To put the SUM meta-model into practice, knowledge management principles have been proposed for implementing user-centred security and user-centred design. This is accomplished by using collaborative brainpower from various knowledge constellations to design a system within the user’s current and future perception boundaries. Therefore, different knowledge groups, processes, techniques, tactics and practices have been proposed for knowledge transfer and transformation during the mental model development.

A methodology to develop usability / user experience heuristics

Abstract: Usability is an important element to consider in the development of different software products. Because sets of generic usability heuristics may not evaluate specific features of different applications, several authors have developed new sets of usability heuristics in order to evaluate the usability of these specific applications. Many of these authors follow informal processes to develop new heuristics, which can generate sets of usability heuristics that do not evaluate effectively the usability. Therefore, it is necessary to formalize the process to develop usability heuristics. This research aims to formalize a methodology for developing usability heuristics.

On the usability assessment of the graphical user interface related to a digital pattern software tool

Abstract: Design team belonging to powertrain divisions can speed up the process of managing information, within gearbox design activities, by adopting digital pattern tools. These tools, belonging to a knowledge-based engineering (KBE) system, can assist engineers in re-using company knowledge in order to improve time-consuming tasks as retrieval and selection of previous architectures and to modify and virtually test a new gearbox design. A critical point in the development of a KBE system is the usability of user’s interface to demonstrate effective reduction of development time and satisfaction in its use. In this paper, the authors face the problem of usability improvement of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the tool belonging to the KBE system and previously proposed. An approach based on analytic hierarchy process and multiple-criteria decision analysis is used. A participatory test is performed for evaluating the usability index of the GUI. Taking into account the data analysis, some changes are carried out and a new GUI release is validated through new experimentations.

Usability Evaluation of a Private Social Network on Mental Health for Relatives

Abstract: Usability is one of the most prominent criteria that must be fulfilled by a software product. This study aims to evaluate the usability of SocialNet, a private social network for monitoring the daily progress of patients by their relatives, using a mixed usability approach: heuristic evaluation conducted by experts and user testing. A double heuristic evaluation with one expert evaluator identified the issues related to consistency, design, and privacy. User testing was conducted on 20 users and one evaluator using observation techniques and questionnaires. The main usability problems were found to be related to the structure of SocialNet, and the users presented some difficulties in locating the buttons or links. The results show a high level of usability and satisfaction with the product. This evaluation provides data on the usability of SocialNet based on the difficulties experienced by the users and the expert. The results help in redesigning the tool to resolve the identified problems as part of an iterative process.

Toward accessibility with usability: understanding the requirements of impaired uses in the mobile context

Abstract: When applications intend to support accessibility, aspects of usability must be reviewed to adapt or extend common functional requirements that are implemented to ensure an easy use of applications. However, initiatives to develop guidelines for accessible mobile applications are recent and several approaches present only suggestions rather than a concrete list of requirements. This work presents an ample study on this subject, analyzing 247 scientific and technical articles to identify requirements that are discussed related to different types of impairments. This identification and further consolidation are carried out in a contextualized way via a classification schema proposed in this work. An observation based on analysis with real users is then performed to confirm and extend the initial requirements list and support our understanding about the limitations and needs of impaired users regarding the use of mobile technology. As result, this paper presents the main points of a guideline proposal for functional requirements, which should be considered by mobile applications to ensure accessibility with usability.

Qualitative usability feature selection with ranking: a novel approach for ranking the identified usability problematic attributes for academic websites using data-mining techniques

Abstract: The aim of this study is to identify common usability problematic patterns that belong to top-50 academic websites as a whole and then ranking of these identified usability problems is also provided. In this study, a novel approach is proposed that is based upon the integration of conventional usability testing and heuristic evaluation with data-mining knowledge discovery process. An experiment is conducted to evaluate ISO 9241-151 guidelines under 16-different categories by hundred participants who are frequent users of academic websites. After evaluation, the qualitative usability data is collected and different data-mining techniques i.e. association rule and decision tree are applied to recognize fully functional and problematic usability attributes. Identified problematic attributes represent common usability problems patterns related to academic websites from the qualitative viewpoint only. This study further prioritizes these problematic attributes by using the ranking algorithm that represents the order in which usability issues must be resolved. In this study, 16-different categories are considered for usability evaluation of academic websites. The results show that no issues are identified in two-categories i.e. {Headings_Titles_Labels and The Home_Page}. In Scrolling and Paging category, horizontal scrolling is identified as a major issue whereas, in Internationalization category, the users do not identify supported languages on most of the academic websites. Users do not find websites to be highly secured under Security category. Our findings investigate that most of the issues are found in Search and Social Media categories. Furthermore, users easily locate 50.53% guidelines on websites as fully functional whereas, 49.46% of characteristics are considered as problematic usability features that are not functional on the academic website as a whole. Identification of common usability problems at an early stage can lower substantially the development efforts in cost and time. Software developers can restrain from these potential usability problems during the development of novel systems under the same context. Providing appropriate solutions for these problems can become valuable in software development. The proposed approach concludes that conventional usability evaluation methods can go beyond just than testing of systems. The study is a milestone towards identification and prioritizing problematic usability features for academic websites and helps in providing the wholistic approach of usability problematic patterns for web-domain.

A Usability Refactoring Process for Large-Scale Open Source Projects: The ILIAS Case Study

Abstract: This case study presents efforts to introduce and encourage consistent application of usability and user interface design principles in an existing large-scale open source project. We present the project in question, the ILIAS learning management system, the challenges involved in incorporating usability into an open source project, the novel solution we proposed, a set of tools called the Kitchen Sink, and the steps that were needed to have the solution accepted and used by the ILIAS community. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned and an assessment of the overall success of our efforts.

A More Intelligent Test Case Generation Approach through Task Models Manipulation

Abstract: Ensuring that an interactive application allows users to perform their activities and reach their goals is critical to the overall usability of the interactive application. Indeed, the effectiveness factor of usability directly refers to this capability. Assessing effectiveness is a real challenge for usability testing as usability tests only cover a very limited number of tasks and activities. This paper proposes an approach towards automated testing of effectiveness of interactive applications. To this end we resort to two main elements: an exhaustive description of users' activities and goals using task models, and the generation of scenarios (from the task models) to be tested over the application. However, the number of scenarios can be very high (beyond the computing capabilities of machines) and we might end up testing multiple similar scenarios. In order to overcome these problems, we propose strategies based on task models manipulations (e.g., manipulating task nodes, operator nodes, information...) resulting in a more intelligent test case generation approach. For each strategy, we investigate its relevance (both in terms of test case generation and in terms of validity compared to the original task models) and we illustrate it with a small example. Finally, the proposed strategies are applied on a real-size case study demonstrating their relevance and validity to test interactive applications.

Systematic Heuristic Evaluation of Computerized Consultation Order Templates: Clinicians’ and Human Factors Engineers’ Perspectives

Abstract: We assessed the usability of consultation order templates and identified problems to prioritize in design efforts for improving referral communication. With a sample of 26 consultation order templates, three evaluators performed a usability heuristic evaluation. The evaluation used 14 domain-independent heuristics and the following three supplemental references: 1 new domain-specific heuristic, 6 usability goals, and coded clinicians' statements regarding ease of use for 10 sampled templates. Evaluators found 201 violations, a mean of 7.7 violations per template. Minor violations outnumbered major violations almost twofold, 115 (57%) to 62 (31%). Approximately 68% of violations were linked to 5 heuristics: aesthetic and minimalist design (17%), error prevention (16%), consistency and standards (14%), recognition rather than recall (11%), and meet referrers' information needs (10%). Severe violations were attributed mostly to meet referrers' information needs and recognition rather than recall. Recorded violations yielded potential negative consequences for efficiency, effectiveness, safety, learnability, and utility. Evaluators and clinicians demonstrated 80% agreement in usability assessment. Based on frequency and severity of usability heuristic violations, the consultation order templates reviewed may impede clinical efficiency and risk patient safety. Results support the following design considerations: communicate consultants' requirements, facilitate information seeking, and support communication. While the most frequent heuristic violations involved interaction design and presentation, the most severe violations lacked information desired by referring clinicians. Violations related to templates' inability to support referring clinicians' information needs had the greatest potential negative impact on efficiency and safety usability goals. Heuristics should be prioritized in future design efforts.

Educational software usability: Artifact or Design?

Abstract: Online educational technologies and e-learning tools are providing new opportunities for students to learn worldwide, and they continue to play an important role in anatomical sciences education. Yet, as we shift to teaching online, particularly within the anatomical sciences, it has become apparent that e-learning tool success is based on more than just user satisfaction and preliminary learning outcomes-rather it is a multidimensional construct that should be addressed from an integrated perspective. The efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction with which a user can navigate an e-learning tool is known as usability, and represents a construct which we propose can be used to quantitatively evaluate e-learning tool success. To assess the usability of an e-learning tool, usability testing should be employed during the design and development phases (i.e., prior to its release to users) as well as during its delivery (i.e., following its release to users). However, both the commercial educational software industry and individual academic developers in the anatomical sciences have overlooked the added value of additional usability testing. Reducing learner frustration and anxiety during e-learning tool use is essential in ensuring e-learning tool success, and will require a commitment on the part of the developers to engage in usability testing during all stages of an e-learning tool's life cycle. Anat Sci Educ 10: 190-199. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Evaluating data-centric process approaches: Does the human factor factor in?

Abstract: The Business Process Management field addresses design, improvement, management, support, and execution of business processes. In doing so, we argue that it focuses more on developing modeling notations and process design approaches than on the needs and preferences of the individual who is modeling (i.e., the user). New data-centric process modeling approaches are taken as a relevant and timely stream of process design approaches to test our argument. First, we provide a review of existing data-centric process approaches, culminating in a theoretical classification framework. Next, we empirically evaluate three specific approaches with regard to the claims they make. We had participants representative of actual users try out these approaches on realistic scenarios via a series of workshops. Participants assessed to what extent quality claims from the literature could be recognized within the workshop sessions. The results of this evaluation substantiate a number of claims behind the approaches, but also identify opportunities to further improve them. Most prominently, we found that the usability aspects of all considered approaches are a source of concern. This leads us to the insight that usability aspects of process design approaches are crucial and, in the perception of groups representative of actual users, leave much to be desired. In that sense, our research can be seen as a wake-up call for process modeling notation designers to consider the usability side—and as such, the interest of the human modeler—more than is currently the case.

Fuzzy Approach to Prioritize Usability Requirements Conflicts: An Experimental Evaluation

Abstract: The lack of attention to the correlation between the attributes of usability requirements leads to several problems with software development. This paper presents a novel framework that focuses on the mapping of usability requirements attributes to the linguistic assessment from the users using fuzzy logic. Our proposed framework prioritizes conflicting usability requirements attributes. For implementation, we have used MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Tool box. This proposed framework is aimed at helping the requirement analyst in taking better decisions by automating the whole process of identifying and resolving usability requirements conflicts. The major task in the proposed system involves determining the numerical value for each attribute considering their respective importance in different quantitative and qualitative evaluation standards. On the basis of numerical value, conflicts and their respective severities are identified.

Comparison between significance of usability and security in HCI

Abstract: Technology pertaining to Human Computer Interaction has seen vast leaps of advancements in recent years. And so, have the hardware using those technologies. But Despite all of these advancements, users are often left disappointed. The major cause of this disappointment is mostly either of lack of usability or lack of security or sometimes both of them. This paper discusses the problem of balance between usability and security as these two are the most significant challenges in the area of HCISec. Significance of both security and usability is discussed in this paper in order to find the more dominating aspect in the design of human computer interaction systems. Also, a case study on usability and security is presented on the iOS and Android operating systems to get a clear idea of the significance of both the factors. In the end, a conclusion is reached highlighting the importance of both usability and security.