Usability

Whats on today???
o What is usability?
o Why is usability important?
o How measuring usability?

What is poor usability?

I really like it,
To end-users..
It doesnt do
but I dont use it
Cant it be what I need it
much
more like
to do
Google?
I cant find
what Im
I dont think it
looking for

seems trustworthy

Its very fancy,

but its not very
useful

I find it a bit
frustrating

What is poor usability?

What is Usability???
o User Friendly ???
o Is not a synonym of
usability
o Avoid this expression!

What is Usability???
o Its not about is this product usable?
o But its about how usable this product?

What is Usability???

What is Usability???
o The effectiveness, efficiency,
and satisfaction with which
specified users achieve
specified goals in particular
environments.
o source: ISO 9241-11

o applies equally to both

hardware and software design

What is Usability???
ISO 9241-11:
o Effectiveness: The accuracy and completeness with which
specified users achieve their own goals with the system.

o Efficiency: The resources expended in relation to the accuracy

and completeness of goals achieved.
o Satisfaction: The comfort and acceptability of the system to
the users and other people affected by its use.

What is Usability???
Jacob Nielson's definition:
o Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks
the first time they encounter the design?
o Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly
can they perform tasks?
o Memorability: When users return to the design after a period
of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?

What is Usability???
Jacob Nielson's Definition (cont.):
o Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these
errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
o Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

What is Usability???

Attributes of usability

User as starting point

Why usability is important?

o system development is expensive, and supporting a poorly
designed user interface is even more expensive;
o users will reject or work around systems that do not meet their
needs;
o design teams need to discover all problems users have in order
to provide remedies;
o even the best designers are not representative of the users of
the system, thus teams need to understand users' perspectives
and experiences with other systems;

Why usability is important?

o usability evaluation is an inexpensive way to improve systems
before they are implemented, to improve existing systems,
and to choose usable systems;
o business users do not have a lot of time to spend learning how
to use a system;
o businesses cannot train fast enough to keep pace with attrition
and changing business rules;

Why usability is important?

o people prefer a usable system with fewer features to a system
with gratuitous "bells and whistles" which they have to work
hard at figuring out; and
o people often use systems in ways developers did not expect,
and if designers find this out, they can build these features
into a new system

Where?
o Usability testing can be done wherever it is
o in a real work setting
o or in a usability lab

When???
o During early design stages to:
o Predict product usability
o Check design teams understanding of user requirements
o Test out ideas

o Later in design process:

o Identify user difficulties
(fine tune product)
o Improve upgrade a product

How conducting usability evaluation?

Testing

Usability
methods

-Laboratory testing
-Thinking aloud

Inspection

Inquiry

-Heuristic Evaluation
-Cognitive Walkthrough

-Focus Group
-Questionnaires

Laboratory Testing
o Defined as any of those techniques in which users interact
systematically with a product or system under controlled
conditions, to perform a goal-oriented task in an applied
scenario, and some behavioral data are collected.
o User is asked to perform task scenario based testing

Thinking aloud
o May be the single most valuable usability engineering method.
o having an end user continuously thinking out loud while using
the system

o participants thinking aloud as they are performing a set of

specified tasks
o users are usually recorded on video

Thinking aloud

Focus Group

Planning a usability testing

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Think about why you will be doing a usability test.

Consider the system as a whole.
Make sure the system is ready to test.
List several tasks that a user should be able to
accomplish with the system.
Make a list of potential usability test subjects.
Plan for data collection.
Schedule the test.
Prepare yourself to be objective.
Don't take this "how" file with you.

Principles in testing
o Use real users

o Design real tasks

o Record and report the test

Who are the subjects tested?

o Targeted users
o Use a real user!!!
o Novice (beginner) vs expert user
o User persona

Between-subject & the Within-Subject

Designs
Advantages

Types of gathered users

The between-subject
The within-subject design
Cleaner
Smaller sample size
design
Avoiding the learning
Effective isolation of
effect
individual differences
Better
control
of More powerful tests
confounding factors,
such as fatigue

Limitations

Larger sample size

Hard to control learning

effects

Large impact of
individual differences
Harder to get
statistically significant
results

Large impact of fatigue

Source: Lazar et.al (2009)

Get to know your users

o
o
o
o

Talk to your users

Observe your users
Get feedback from your users
Find out
o Who are your users (characteristics)
o What do they do (tasks)
o Current vs. desired
o Critical vs. non-critical
o User/task matrix

o How do they do it (Task Flow)

o Where do they do it (environment)

How many subjects?

How many subjects?

Setting up usability testing

Measuring Usability
o What can be measured?
o Performance measures: Counts of actions and behaviours
you can see
o Subjective measures: Peoples perceptions, opinions and
judgments

Measuring usability
Effectiveness

Efficiency

User satisfaction

1. Percent task complete

2. Ratio of success to
failures
3. Number of features
used

1. Time to complete task

2. Time to learn
3. Time spent on errors

1. Rating scale for

usefulness
2. Rating scale for
satisfaction
3. Number of times user
express frustration

Measuring Usability
o Time
o The time taken to complete a task on a computer is an
obvious metric to choose. Whiteside et al (1985) have
proposed the following empirical relationship:

Measuring Usability
o Error Rate
o All users make errors. The number and type of errors made
during the performance of a particular task by a user is
clearly an indication of the usability of the system

o Attitude Measures
o attitude of the user of a system usually has to be found by
using questionnaires or interviews. These measures can
cover complete system use, from learnability, to ease of
use, to functionality.

Measuring Usability

In usability testing
o Establish the context
o Ask the subject to verbalize their thoughts as they perform the
tasks on your list

o Don't help!
o Don't take it personally

o Thank the subject.

Listen and observe!

o Have fun with it!
o Enjoy being the observer.

o What does "hmm" mean?

o Take it all in, even the gaps. Notice all the sounds and behaviors
and comments that might be relevant. Remind the subject to
verbalize and be as open with their thinking as possible.

o Write everything down.

o You can translate and expand your notes later. If you are tempted
to ask the subject extra questions, make a note so that you can
bring them up later.

o Don't interfere or ask leading questions

o Do help them to feel comfortable speaking their thoughts out loud

Usability Applies to all Designs

o Norman presented
Carelmans
coffeepot as a
metaphor for the
many objects that
we use in our daily
lives that include
fundamental design
flaws.

Referensi
o ISO. 9241-11: 1998. (1998). Ergonomic requirements
for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs)Part 11: guidance on usability. Geneve, CH: ISO
o Lazar, J., Feng, J. H., and Hochheiser, H. (2009).
Research methods in human-computer interaction.
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
o Nielsen, J. (1993) Usability engineering. Morgan
Kaufmann
o Wijayanto, T. (2009). Usability. Lecture Handout:
Usabilitas. Universitas Gajah Mada: Yogyakarta