INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND USABILITY MEASUREMENT

Hema Banati, P. S.Grover

2005

Abstract

The current trend of increased web usage has recognized the need of usable websites. A site containing relevant information may not gain user acceptance if the user finds it difficult to use. A quantifiable measure of usability can provide a measurable estimate of improvement required in the website. It can also help in comparing different websites. This measure would gain wider acceptability, if obtained, by applying the international standards of measurement. This paper measures usability quantitatively using the international standard ISO/IEC TR 9126-2. Metrics specified in the standards are used to measure the four sub-characteristics of usability, “Learnability”, “Operability”, “Understandability” and “Attractiveness” for an academic website. It was found that the “Learnability” level of the website was very low, as compared to the Understandability level. This is not in conformation with the standards, which mention the latter to be an indicator of the former. The significance and relevance of each metric to usability of the website was then examined in this light. The study also highlight the long due need of standardizing the process of usability measurement.

References

  1. Banati, Hema and Grover P.S, 2004.A Structured Approach To Study Usability, National Conference on Software Engineering Principles and Practices
  2. Constantine Larry L and Lockwood Lucy A.D, 1999. Software For Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods Of Usage-Centered Design, ACM Press, New York
  3. Corry, M.D., Frick, T.W., and Hansen, L., 1997. UserCentered Design and Usability Testing of a Web Site: An Illustrative Case Study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45, 65-76.
  4. Dhillon, J.K, 2001.Challenges and strategies for improving the quality of information in a university setting: a case study. Total Quality Management, 12i2, 167.
  5. ISO/IEC TR 9126-2:2003 Software engineering -- Product quality -- Part 2: External metrics
  6. Nielsen J. 1993.Usability Engineering, Boston: Academic Press
  7. Nielsen, J and Levy, J. ,1994. Measuring usability: Preference vs. performance. Communications of the ACM, 37(4) 67-75.
  8. Strauss, H., 2000. Techtalks. Interview conducted by CREN.
  9. Sushma Rao, 2002. “Application of Human-computer Interaction Theories to Information Design on Internet Portals” A Masters Thesis, available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd11192002-164448/unrestricted/ThesisSushmaRao.pdf
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Banati H. and S.Grover P. (2005). INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND USABILITY MEASUREMENT . In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 5: ICEIS, ISBN 972-8865-19-8, pages 184-188. DOI: 10.5220/0002536701840188


in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis05,
author={Hema Banati and P. S.Grover},
title={INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND USABILITY MEASUREMENT},
booktitle={Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 5: ICEIS,},
year={2005},
pages={184-188},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002536701840188},
isbn={972-8865-19-8},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 5: ICEIS,
TI - INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND USABILITY MEASUREMENT
SN - 972-8865-19-8
AU - Banati H.
AU - S.Grover P.
PY - 2005
SP - 184
EP - 188
DO - 10.5220/0002536701840188