RESEARCH

USABILITY
• Usability is the degree of ease with which products such as software and Web applications can be used to achieve
required goals effectively and efficiently. Usability assesses the level of difficulty involved in using a user interface.
Although usability can only be quantified through indirect measures and is therefore a nonfunctional requirement, it
is closely related to a product's functionality.

• Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also refers to
methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.

• Usability assessment generally includes studies of the clarity of websites and computer programs. These studies are
conducted by usability analysts. When a product is deemed to be have good usability, this means it is easy to learn,
and efficient and satisfying to use.

• Usability design considers who the users are, what they know and how they learn, users' general backgrounds, and
the context in which they use a given product. It also considers whether users accomplish the tasks at the desired
speed, the training required to use the program, supporting materials available to help users, the chance of recovery
from errors and the program's ability to meet the needs of disabled users.

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE USABILITY:

• Learnability - Describes how quickly something can be understood and put to use.
• Efficiency - Describes how quickly something can be performed or used once understanding is achieved.
• Memorability - Describes how easily something can be made or put down, then picked up and used after some time
has passed
• Errors - Describes how often errors are created during use, and how quickly the user can recover from them.
• Satisfaction - How pleasant to use the design or describes how pleasing something is to use.

WHY IS USABILITY IMPORTANT?

• On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the
homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get
lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions,
they leave.

• There's no such thing as a user reading a website manual or otherwise spending much time trying to figure out an
interface. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the first line of defense when users encounter a
difficulty.

USABILITY IS BASED ON THREE DESIGN PRINCIPLES:

 ITERATIVE FOCUS ON THE USER AND THE TASK

 ITERATIVE DESIGN
 EMPIRICAL MEASUREMENT

METHODS THAT CAN BE USED TO EVALUATE USABILITY:

• Cognitive Modeling - Creates computational models to estimate how long people take to perform specific tasks

• Inspection - Involves program evaluation by an expert reviewer. Tasks in this method are timed and recorded, making it relatively
qualitative in nature

• Inquiry - Includes collecting qualitative data from users as well as task analysis that specifies the tasks users have to accomplish in
order to achieve their desired goals

• Prototyping - The usability of a system is refined and validated

• Testing - The testing of subjects for quantitative data