More info on Wikipedia
Quick Facts
- Usability suggests that an object is made with the user's psychology in mind
- Usability criterion demands that a product is easy to use
- Usability concept requires a product to be easy to learn
- User-friendliness or accessibility is an important consideration in usability studies
- Jakob Nielsen is a popular usability consultant
Expert summary
Usability is now a very useful and commonly used term designating the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. Usability also refers to the principles behind an object’s perceived efficiency or elegance. The fields where the concept of usability is frequently used are that of human-computer interaction and computer science. There usability refers to the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site is designed. The concept is also applied in the context of consumer electronics, communication, and various knowledge transfer objects like a document or online help. The efficient design of mechanical objects is also referred to ... Read more
Recommended content by 4 experts
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Voices That Matter: GWT - Usability
ideo of "Usability with Kelly Norton" from Pearson Education's Voices That Matter: Google Web Toolkit conference. -
United.com usability issues: Usabilitymagazin.com
Watch what it takes to redeem your miles on United. Larger video on www.UsabilityMagazine.com -
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E-commerce Usability: Tools and Techniques to perfect the on-line experience
There are 100s of books aimed at people who design web sites. Books that tell you how to write HTML. Books that show you how to design 3D buttons. Books on programming in Perl, Java, etc. This book takes a completely different approach: it assumes that the people who use web sites just want an easy life. This requires simplicity - not complexity. So, this book on web site development hardly mentions technology. Instead, it focuses on the customers of the technology: it explains how to design e-commerce sites that ordinary people can use (not just yourself, your boss or client!). -
A Practical Guide to Usability Testing
This is required reading for usability professionals. It's a detailed look at testing, covering everything from test plans and lab construction to data analysis and how to handle unqualified testers who slip through the screening process. It covers lower-budget tests in addition to full-scale ones. -
Handbook of Usability Testing: How to plan, design and conduct effective tests
This handbook is certainly worth the time reading, if not for the very practical examples offered. As a handbook, I would have expected a more scientific approach, but as far as it goes, the examples given make up for it. It gives you examples of acceptance criteria and, for instance, different settings of the usability environment with pro's and con's.
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