Usability

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Usability

• Usability
• ENGL 2311
• By
• Paul Watson
• Summer II 2008

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What is usability ?

• Usability testing is the process of performing
  experiments with people who represent real users
  to understand how well they understand a document
  or a technology.
• User-centered design (UCD) is a process of
  collecting data from users, creating feedback in
  the form of information, and then delivering that
  information to designers, Salvo (2001).
• The Wallenberg Hall in Stanford University, was
  built using UCD, where the building has
  interactive whiteboards and mobile projection
  systems, all incorporated as a result of
  user-feedbacks Gordon Ludwig (2006).

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Origins of Usability

• Social democracy in Scandinavia during early
  1970s lead to implementing usability concepts.
• The Joint Application Design (JAD) concepts were
  implemented in IBM in 1970s.
• The idiot proof systems in US during 70s. The
  concept implied that the systems had to be
  protected from errant users who might damage
  them.
• The concept of UCD started in late 1984 with the
  project on Human-Machine Interaction at the
  University of California, San Diego.

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Basic concepts of usability

• Product Development Usability testing involves a
  process of repeated testing to improve on product
  or document.
• Real users interaction with product Real users
  are studied and the feedback is recorded to make
  improvements.
• Measurable Goals Usability measures concepts
  like satisfaction, ease of use, memory and the
  ability to learn new technologies.

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How Instructions apply to Usability

• The instruction document leads to use of
  technology.
• Instructions are basically How to documents.
  
• Check the instruction document for usability by
  asking others to follow the instructions and see
  if they complete the task.
• A step is an action a reader has to perform. The
  step-by- step process is the heart of
  instructions.
• Microsoft example http//support.microsoft.com/kb
  /q140752/

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