2024_s2_duse_l01_InspectionMethods.pdf

RMIT Classification: Trusted Usability Inspection ISYS1049 Designing the User System Experience Dr Vince Bruno 1  RMIT Classification: Trusted Definition A set of methods based on having evaluators inspect or examine usa...

RMIT Classification: Trusted Usability Inspection ISYS1049 Designing the User System Experience Dr Vince Bruno 1  RMIT Classification: Trusted Definition A set of methods based on having evaluators inspect or examine usability- related aspects of a user interface. Usability Inspectors: Usability specialist, software developers with special expertise, end users with content or task knowledge, or other type of professionals There are various inspection method all with a slightly different goals, but the basic goal is a method for evaluating a user interface design. 2  RMIT Classification: Trusted Usability Inspection In usability inspection, the evaluation of a user interface is based on considered judgement of the inspector(s). The inspection methods vary as to how this judgement is derived and on what evaluation criteria the inspector(s) is required to base their judgement. An inspector's major characteristic is their reliance on judgement as a source of feedback on elements of a user interface. 3  RMIT Classification: Trusted Interface Evaluation Basic Method The four basic ways of evaluating user interfaces: – automatically - computerised usability measures. – empirically - usability testing/assessment using real users (main) – formally - using exact models and formulas to calculate usability measures – informally - based on rules of thumb and the general skill, knowledge and experience of the evaluators. (cheap) Question: Which category of evaluation methods does Usability Inspection belong? 4  RMIT Classification: Trusted Inspection Objectives Inspections are usually performed on existing user-interfaces, involves identifying and recommending fixes and improvements to the usability of the design. Identifying Usability Problems – Aspects of the user-interface that causes the resulting system to have reduced usability for the end-user. – Usability is a broad concept – A lot of the work with usability inspection is the identifying and counting of usability problems, and the use of judgement and experience to recognize the underlying usability problem. 5  RMIT Classification: Trusted Inspection Objectives Usability Engineering Lifecycle – The discovery of these usability problems done through inspection or testing is important, but only a part of a larger process. Team Building and Education – Inspections are usually done in groups, involving various people; users, developers & usability specialist – These people are made more aware of the usability aspects of a design, as each usability problem is found – The software developer can gain a better appreciation of user-orientated perspectives in development. 6  RMIT Classification: Trusted Inspection Methods Guideline Reviews Heuristic Evaluation Pluralistic Walkthroughs Consistency Inspections Standard Inspections Cognitive Walkthroughs Formal Usability Inspection Feature Inspection Note: sometimes called usability audits 7  RMIT Classification: Trusted Standard Inspection Inspect a user-interface for compliance to a set of standards Usually, an expert or someone familiar with the standards does this inspection Helps provide some degree of compliance with other system. 8  RMIT Classification: Trusted Feature Inspection This is focused on a function or set of functions delivered with a software system. The inspection examine whether the function provides the intended needs of the end user(s). There is a need to focus on the usefulness of a specific function rather than the interface as a whole. 9  RMIT Classification: Trusted Consistency Inspection A software development team may be developing a family of products and require that they have a similar look and feel (user interface). A Consistency inspection focuses on the a similar sort of interface to be adhered to across multiple products. Inspection usually done by the same usability team. 10  RMIT Classification: Trusted Guideline Review Are inspections where an interface is checked for conformance with a comprehensive list of usability guidelines. Since guidelines may number up towards 1,000 items it requires some expertise to decipher and use. In practice this approach is not used by usability specialists, this inspections falls between a standard inspection and heuristic evaluation. 11  RMIT Classification: Trusted Guideline Review Graphical User Interface Guidelines – Eg. Guidelines for designing User Interface Software (The MITRE Corporation) (1986) Text / Command-line interface Guidelines Web Interface Guidelines – Eg. Ameritech Web Page User interface Standards and Design Guidelines (1996) 12  RMIT Classification: Trusted Heuristic Evaluation Discussed in detail later Inspection based on a set of heuristics as a guide There are several heuristics used (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic_evaluation) : – Nielsen's heuristics – Muller et.al. Participatory Heuristics (added by VB) – Gerhardt-Powals' cognitive engineering principles – Shneiderman's Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design – Weinschenk and Barker classification 13  RMIT Classification: Trusted Cognitive Walkthrough Discussed in detail later. Task orientated evaluation based on the Think Aloud Technique 14