Xavier Ferre

Framework for integrating usability practices into the software process

Software development organizations wanting to introduce usability practices into their defined software process have to undertake laborious efforts for that purpose, since, for the time being, there exists a lack of reference model or framework which indicates where and how in the software process usability needs to be considered. They also have to overcome the important differences between HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) and SE (Software Engineering) in terminology and approach to process definition. We offer developers who have the objective of integrating usability practices into their software process, a framework that characterizes 35 selected HCI techniques in relation to six relevant criteria from a SE viewpoint, and organizes them according to the kind of activities in the development process where they may be applied, and to the best moment of application in an iterative life cycle. The only requirement for the existing software process is to be based on an iterative approach.

Improving Software Engineering Practice with HCI Aspects

Techniques from the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) field have been used for the development of usable software products for a long time, but their use is often not integrated with software engineering practices. In this work we describe an approach for bridging the gap between software engineering and HCI, by offering orientation to software practitioners on the application of HCI techniques and activities. For this purpose, we have carried out a survey in HCI literature to define the activities in a user-centered development process, and to select the HCI techniques that are more appropriate for integration into software engineering practice.

How to integrate usability into the software development process

Usability is increasingly recognized as a quality attribute that one has to explicitly deal with during development. Nevertheless, usability techniques, when applied, are decoupled from the software development process. The host of techniques offered by the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) field make the task of selecting the most appropriate ones for a given project and organization a difficult task. Project managers and developers aiming to integrate usability practices into their software process have to face important challenges, as the techniques are not described in the frame of a software process as it is understood in SE (Software Engineering). Even when HCI experts (either in-house or from an external organization) are involved in the integration process, it is also a tough endeavour due to the strong differences in terminology and overall approach to software development between HCI and SE. In this tutorial we will present, from a SE viewpoint, which usability techniques can be most valuable to development teams with little or no previous usability experience, how a particular set of techniques can be selected according to the specific characteristics of the organization and project, and how usability techniques match with the activity groups in the development process.

Which, When and How Usability Techniques and Activities Should Be Integrated

Software development organizations are paying more and more attention to the usability of their software products, as increasing importance is attached to usability as a critical software quality attribute. The HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) field offers techniques aimed at producing a software product with a good usability level, but their use is often not integrated into SE (software engineering) development processes. The integration of usability techniques into SE practice is not an easy endeavor, since both fields speak different languages and deal with software development from different perspectives. This chapter presents a framework for the integration of usability techniques and activities. This framework characterizes selected usability techniques and activities using SE terminology and concepts, according to what kind of activity they belong to and at what development stage their application contributes most to the usability of the final software product. Software developers may then manage usability activities and techniques, include them in their software process, and understand in which activities usability and SE techniques have to be merged to achieve concurrent objectives. The proposed framework is aimed at software development organizations with a defined iterative development process that are looking to enhance their process with usability aspects.

UCD method selection with usability planner

The diversity of User Centred Design (UCD) methods and the difficulties for estimating their cost-effectiveness make planning usability activities in systems development a hard task. Usability Planner is a tool to support the selection of UCD methods to be applied in a particular project or organization, and to estimate the relative cost benefits of applying usability methods at different stages.

A Case Study on Cross-Platform Development Frameworks for Mobile Applications and UX

Cross-platform development frameworks for mobile applications promise important advantages in cost cuttings and easy maintenance, posing as a very good option for organizations interested in the design of mobile applications for several platforms. Given that platform conventions are especially important for the User eXperience (UX) of mobile applications, the usage of a framework where the same code defines the behavior of the app in different platforms could have a negative impact in the UX. This paper describes a study where two independent teams have designed two different versions of a mobile application, one using a framework that generates Android and iOS versions automatically, and another team using native tools. The alternative versions for each platform have been evaluated with 37 users with a combination of a laboratory usability test and a longitudinal study. The results show that differences are minimal in the Android platform, but in iOS, even if a reasonably good UX can be obtained with the usage of this framework by an UX-conscious design team, a higher level of UX can be obtained directly developing with a native tool.

How a human-centered approach impacts software development

Usability has become a critical quality factor in software systems, and it requires the adoption of a human-centered approach to software development. The inclusion of humans and their social context into the issues to consider throughout development deeply influences software development at large. Waterfall approaches are not feasible, since they are based on eliminating uncertainty from software development. On the contrary, the uncertainty of dealing with human beings, and their social or work context, makes necessary the introduction of uncertainty-based approaches into software development. HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) has a long tradition of dealing with such uncertainty during development, but most current software development practices in industry are not rooted in a human-centered approach. This paper revises the current roots of software development practices, illustrating how their limitations in dealing with uncertainty may be tackled with the adoption of well-known HCI practices.

A visual UML-based conceptual model of information-seeking by computer science researchers

A model of the information-seeking process of computer scientists is proposed.The model derives from two qualitative studies with computer scientists.The model is described textually and is visually illustrated using UML.The model contains the main concepts and relationships intervening in the process. The information-seeking process carried out by researchers is complex and full of different variables. We have represented this complexity for computer science researchers in the form of a conceptual model. The model is presented in a visual form using the UML modeling language, since it allows conveying all the complexity present in such a process with greater clarity. It has been obtained after carrying out two qualitative studies a focus group and semi-structured interviews with computer science researchers. The proposed overall model is composed of 4 sub-models: of the documents used in the process, of the tasks undertaken, of the user, and of the information-seeking process context. The conceptual model proposed can serve for the purpose of better understanding the information-seeking process, for example for librarians or for software designers wanting to provide a support to such task. It can also be useful as a framework to characterize different software solutions aimed to information-seeking in research activities, and to compare them.

Usability issues in the design of an intuitive interface for planning and simulating maintenance interventions using a virtual environment

This paper presents some of the results obtained in the VRIMOR project (virtual reality for inspection, maintenance, operation and repair of nuclear power plants). The general aim was to integrate environmental scanning technologies with human modelling and radiological dose estimation tools, and to deliver an intuitive and cost-effective system for use by operators involved with interventions in radiologically controlled areas. The usability of the resulting products was one of the main success criteria. This paper describes the general approach and design mechanisms used in the HeSPI (HeSPI stands for the Spanish for Herramienta para la Simulación y Planificación de Intervenciones, or tool for the simulation and planning of interventions) tool that has been developed by one of the teams. The tool provides the designer of an intervention with a humanoid 3D model, or mannequin, that can be loaded into the desired environment and will be used by the designer as if he was manipulating a puppet, making it move around the environment and perform different kinds of actions, adopting varied postures, interacting with the objects in the environment and manipulating tools and equipment. A combination of a graphical user interface (GUI) and a voice recognition system, together with the selected design mechanisms, has proven to offer good enough interaction possibilities for this kind of desktop virtual environment.

Playability Testing of Web-Based Sport Games with Older Children and Teenagers

Playability occupies a central role in videogame design. Heuristics may help for establishing the game concept, but some testing is essential for ensuring a wide acceptance in the target user population. The experience of designing and testing a set of web-based sport videogames is described, focusing on the heuristics employed and the testing approach. The results show that an emphasis on a simple set of game controls and the introduction of humorous elements has obtained a positive response from older children and teenagers.