usability dimensions

Visibility Principle in User Interfaces

by Vishal Mehta March 10, 2011 Usability Dimensions

A user interface is only valued when the user interactions achieve their purpose. The first element of user interaction is what the user sees in the interface. Visibility is all about how clearly the user sees the state of the interface and all the possible actions. If the users cannot “see” how to use the [...]

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Usability Characteristic: “Easy To Learn”

by Vishal Mehta February 3, 2011 Usability Characteristics

The last feature in Usability Characteristics. An easy to learn site/product is one that supports both the initial orientation and continued learning throughout the complete lifetime of use. Most usability exercises applied to sites and products achieve an end result that assures low entry barrier, i.e., initially easy to learn. However, very few result in [...]

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Usability Characteristic: “Error Tolerant”

by Vishal Mehta February 1, 2011 Usability Characteristics

Error Tolerant User Interface. Your site/application ideally needs to prevent user errors and provide easy means to recover from them if they occur. This characteristic is also far too critical to be ignored or taken lightly. For achieving this, your current site or application may need a strong revamp, focusing on all critical tasks and [...]

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Usability Characteristic: “Engaging”

by Vishal Mehta January 31, 2011 Usability Characteristics

The previous two posts saw examples of effective and efficient sites. This feature focuses on the “engaging” characteristic of a user interface. An interface that’s confusing or difficult to read; that fails to draw users into their tasks – generally fail in the “engaging” department from a functional aspect. Apart from this, an interface should [...]

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Usability Characteristic: “Efficient”

by Vishal Mehta January 24, 2011 Usability Characteristics

Of the usability characteristics, effectiveness is often confused with efficiency; but they are not the same. Efficiency is concerned primarily with how quickly a task can be completed. Whereas effectiveness, as we saw in the last feature, concerns itself with completeness and accuracy of a task. ISO 9241 defines efficiency as: The total resources expended [...]

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Usability Characteristic: “Effective”

by Vishal Mehta January 21, 2011 Usability Characteristics

The first of the five usability characteristics – EFFECTIVE. Effectiveness is measured by the completeness and the accuracy with which the intended users achieve their specific goals. The typical characteristics of an effective user interface are: clear terminology – in the user’s language and appropriate to the task good, comprehensible choices on screen easy navigation; alternate [...]

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The Five Es of Usability

by Vishal Mehta January 19, 2011 Usability Dimensions

PREAMBLE. We saw the philosophical angle to various dimensions of usability in previous blog posts, with several examples. This series will focus on the practical dimensions – another, deeper view of the characteristics of usability: Whitney Quesenbery’s Five Es of Usability. With examples, of course. ISO 9241 defines usability as: The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction [...]

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Usability Dimension: “Credible”

by Vishal Mehta January 12, 2011 Usability Dimensions

CREDIBLE. Sixth feature in the series of dimensions of usability. Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab investigates topics such as: what causes people to believe (or not believe) what they find on the web what strategies do users employ in evaluating the credibility of online resources what contextual and design factors influence these assessments and strategies how [...]

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Usability Dimension: “Accessible”

by Vishal Mehta January 11, 2011 Usability Dimensions

ACCESSIBLE. We discussed findable a couple of days back in our series of features on various dimensions of usability. We arrive at a lesser adopted yet very important aspect of “accessibility.” Wikipedia defines Web accessibility as the inclusive practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. All users should have access [...]

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Usability Dimension: “Findable”

by Vishal Mehta January 9, 2011 Usability Dimensions

FINDABLE. Fourth feature in our series: Dimensions of Usability. First three posts discussed the dimensions – useful, usable, and desirable. Peter Morville says: “Findability precedes usability, in the alphabet and on the Web. You can’t use what you can’t find.” For your web site, there are two aspects of findability: how well your site can [...]

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