What is a Usability Problem?
A usability problem can be defined as a problem that delays or prevents a user from performing a certain task on a product (software, hardware, website) and forces the user to reach out to other resources (people, manuals, help) to perform the task. A usability problem has the potential to frustrate a user into rejecting the product and looking for alternatives.
Finding and fixing a usability problem is the goal of all usability efforts a product development organization makes. A plethora of methods exist for evaluating usability of a product but all methods focus on problem detection and do not go far enough to handle categorization and prioritization. A major portion of usability costs are not associated with finding but with fixing problems, hence categorization and assignment of severity levels to usability problems should be robust, reliable and should justify the cost associated with fixing usability problems (Hertzum, 2006). Categorization and prioritization has traditionally lacked scientific interest and has been studied mostly in the context of comparison of evaluation methods (Hassenzahl, 2000). This paper will focus on existing literature for categorization of usability problems, present a critical analysis of the methods and also highlight their areas of positive influence. The paper will then present a practitioner’s view of categorization and lead to a conclusion.
Existing Literature on Categorization of Usability Problems
This section of the paper reviews a few existing approaches to categorization of usability problems. Detail scales and ranges for each of the approaches discussed below are provided in the Appendix for reference.
Rubin and Chisnell’s Model
Rubin and Chisnell (...
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At the combined parks of Universal Studios (US) and Islands of Adventure (IoA) patrons have been complaining that it takes too long to both purchase park tickets and then get through the entrance lines. According to managers of the park patrons have been giving conflicting data as to which is actually having a problem. Some say that US is slower than IoA where others disagree and claim IoA is indeed the slower of the parks. To get to the truth behind the issue we conducted an observational usability study where we spent a minimum of 30 minutes at each park’s ticket purchase and entrance lines measuring the time interactions relative to time.
Let us now examine a number of perspectives that should be considered when designing software solutions. In most cases, these perspectives will have direct consequences to the design of the user interface.
Information and Software Technology Years 7–10: Advice on Programming and Assessment. (2003). Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/info_soft_tech_710_support.pdf
Usability is a critical portion of web design that one must be ever mindful of when constructing websites. Whether creating a personal web space or building multiple pages for a large corporation, it is the burden of the designer to guarantee people can access that content. According to the United Nations, disabled people compose roughly 10 percent of the world’s population (United Nations, 2010). Many regulations and standards have been set forth to provide disabled people with the same opportunities to access content available on the World Wide Web, as it is most of the World’s population.
According to Ahmed et al., 2007, user interface design has received a limited attention from IR researchers. There is a need for adopting human-computer interaction (HCI) techniques into IR interface designs, but this is an issue that has not yet been fully recognised by the commercial database vendors and distributors.
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As indicated, usability is the ability of a user to find the information he/she seeks, process the information, and perform whatever functions as needed (Eccher, 2015, p. 7). The use of a navigation menu allows the user to peruse the website. There exist four primary pathways by which users are able to navigate a website: use of hyperlinks, streamline the navigation bar, keep sidebars separate, and include footers. Hyperlinks will be examined initially.
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User Experience | It’s simple, hard to use and understand technology is only going to be detrimental to employee productivity. If certain features are hard to use, it’s likely several other features will be more of a hassle than a benefit.
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...igure within the system. The software should enable usability in accordance to the company requirements; it should be in a position to have the functionality that meet the need of the company.
According to an organization called World Wide Web Consortium (2010), indicates that the accessibility and usability of web is related to each other when developing a websites. Thus, accessibility and usability of a website is very important.