An introduction to usability

This work gives a broad introductory overview of the topic of usability. Firstly, usability is defined and a framework for identifying different aspects of usability is given. The main principles for creating usable designs are expounded, followed by practical advice as to how to design usable products. The book then tackles the issue of usability evaluation - a series of evaluation methods are described, followed by practical advice as to how to conduct the evaluation. The book draws on examples from software design and product design generally. This means whilst human-computer interaction HCI is a central issue in the book, other usability issues are also covered.;Introduction - usability; aim and contents of book; scope of book and limitations; who is the book for? What is usability? concept and definition; the components of usability; why usability is important; measures of usability. Principles for usable design - consistency; compatibility; consideration of user resources; feedback; error prevention and recovery; user control; visual clarity; prioritisation of functionality and information; appropriate transfer of technology; explicitness. Designing for usability - specifying user characteristics; requirements capture; usability specification; iterative design and prototyping. Methods for usability evaluation - empirical methods; non- empirical methods. Conducting a usability evaluation - purpose of the evaluation; selecting evaluation participants; type of data required; constraints and opportunities; reporting and evaluation; case study - evaluating a software based statistics package; conclusions. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Usability......Page 12 Scope of the Book and Limitations......Page 13 Who is the Book for?......Page 14 Concept and Definition......Page 16 The effect of user characteristics on usability......Page 19 Guessability......Page 22 Learnability......Page 23 Experienced user performance (EUP)......Page 24 System potential......Page 25 Re-usability......Page 26 Financial implications (product sales)......Page 27 Safety......Page 28 Effectiveness: the extent to which a goal, or task, is achieved......Page 29 Efficiency: the amount of effort required to accomplish a goal......Page 30 Satisfaction: the level of comfort that the user feels when using a product and how acceptable the product is to users as a vehicle for achieving their goals......Page 34 Consistency......Page 36 Compatibility......Page 37 Consideration of User Resources......Page 38 Feedback......Page 40 Error Prevention and Recovery......Page 41 User Control......Page 42 Visual Clarity......Page 44 Prioritisation of Functionality and Information......Page 45 Appropriate Transfer of Technology......Page 46 Explicitness......Page 48 Specifying User Characteristics......Page 50 Physical characteristics......Page 51 Cognitive characteristics......Page 52 Requirements Capture......Page 55 Usability Specification......Page 57 Product specification......Page 58 Screen-based interactive prototypes......Page 59 Fully working prototypes......Page 60 5 Methods for Usability Evaluation......Page 62 Private camera conversations......Page 63 Co-discovery......Page 64 Focus groups......Page 66 Think aloud protocols......Page 68 Incident diaries......Page 70 Feature checklists......Page 71 Logging use......Page 72 Field observation......Page 74 Questionnaires......Page 76 Interviews......Page 79 Valuation method......Page 81 Controlled experiments......Page 82 Task analyses......Page 84 Property checklists......Page 87 Expert appraisals......Page 88 Cognitive walkthroughs......Page 90 Purpose of the Evaluation......Page 92 Developing a concept......Page 93 Evaluating a finished product......Page 94 Colleagues......Page 95 Representative sample......Page 96 The entire user population......Page 97 Quantitative data......Page 98 Qualitative data......Page 99 Deadlines......Page 100 Participant time......Page 101 Participants available......Page 102 Facilities and resources......Page 103 Reporting the Evaluation......Page 104 Written reports......Page 105 Video presentations......Page 107 Getting evaluation findings implemented......Page 108 Questions for the evaluation......Page 109 Data needed......Page 110 Methods to be used......Page 111 Answering the research questions......Page 113 Reporting the study......Page 115 7 Conclusions......Page 116 References......Page 118 Index......Page 122 This book gives an introductory overview of the topic of usability, whilst defining and identifying different aspects of it. The issue of usability evaluation is described along with methods and practical advice on conducting an evaluation The proceedings of the 30th workshop on computational intelligence focus on methods, applications, and tools for fuzzy systems, artificial neural networks, deep learning, system identification, and data mining techniques