Professional Documents
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COLUMN
NOVEMBER 2004
What is usability?
There’s something wrong with our computer This second aspect is sometimes described
systems. Much of our time is filled with frus- as usability engineering, and is more accu-
tration – websites and intranets that don’t let rately described as user-centred design.
us find the information we want, word proc-
essors that lose hours of work with a click of
the mouse, remote controls that have more ‘Usability’ refers to the quality of
buttons than we could possibly need.
‘Usability’ is widely seen as the answer to
a system and the process of
many of these frustrating interactions with designing a usable system
technology. There are usability books, web-
sites, guidelines and checklists, so why are
products and systems getting harder to use Usable – Usability as quality
instead of easier?
There are a number of definitions for the
There is some confusion about what usabili- quality aspect of usability, including this
ty is and whether businesses are ‘doing usa- one from ISO 9241-11:
bility’ or not. There are many aspects to
“the extent to which a product can be
usability – more than just running a usabili-
used by specified users to achieve
ty test at the end of a project.
specified goals with effectiveness, ef-
This article provides an overview of what ficiency and satisfaction in a specified
usability is (and what it is not). It provides context of use.”
ideas on how to include more usability ac-
This definition includes four elements that
tivities in projects and the types of activities
are necessary to create a usable system:
that are needed in order to create more usa-
ble systems. 3. There are specified users of the system.
4. The users have a set of specified goals.
What is usability?
5. The system should allow user goals to be
‘Usability’ is an umbrella term that encom- met (effectively) in an efficient manner
passes two related concepts: and the users will be satisfied with the
1. Usability is an attribute of the quality of process or outcome.
a system: 6. The system will be used in a particular
“We need to create a usable intranet” context (e.g. within a physical location, a
business process).
2. Usability is a process or set of techniques
used during a design and development A usable system is one that is designed to
project: consider all of these aspects.
“We need to include usability activi- Why is usability important
ties in this project” A highly usable system offers benefits to
both users and business.
Donna Maurer is a senior mem- The primary benefits to users are that they
ber of the Step Two Designs con- are able to achieve their tasks easily and ef-
sulting team, and a leading ficiently. This sounds simple, but the feeling
specialist in usability and infor- of achievement that people get when they
mation architecture techniques. use a computer system without frustration
Donna has worked extensively in
should not be underestimated.
the Australian public sector, with
a particular focus on intranet re- Unusable systems can result in substantial
designs. costs to the business, not just in terms of lost
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