![](bg4.png)
H4.2 The Web site is compatible with any browser,
in different platforms, screen resolutions and
bandwidth.
H4.3 All the system answers to user's petitions
include the own petition reminding him the same
one.
H4.4 The configuration of presentation of each user
is respected, avoiding impose him suitable
preferences for the Web site.
H4.5 Links are clearly marked and their target
should not be a new window (allowing the forward-
backward navigation).
H4.6 The pages are not upgraded automatically
in a periodic way.
H4.7 Technologies that the user cannot control are
not used (animated graphics, blinking text or
default background sound).
H4.8 All the multimedia elements are totally
controlled by the user (play, stop, ...).
H4.9 The pages are efficient since they avoid
unnecessary communications with the server
(checking all the form fields in the client, using
client-side image maps).
H4.10 The download is efficient avoiding
excessive page sizes, allowing optional download
for any heavy file.
H4.11 All the data entries are designed to
facilitate its use by the end user.
H4.11.1 Forms are designed in a way that the
user easily determines its general
structure and can insert data in a natural
way.
H4.11.2 All the fields are labeled in a clear and
not ambiguous manner, indicating the
purpose and the type of entries that are
linked.
H4.11.3 Information about the acceptable
values and the obligatory or optional
character of the entries is given.
H4.11.4 Errors management clearly identifies
the wrong fields and give detail of the
cause of the mistake and permits its
correction with no need to introduce all
the data again.
H4.11.5 The System provides the user a
confirmation of the sending of the data
and the updating of the Data Base
(when necessary).
5 CONCLUSIONS
The degree of usability of a Web site developed in
XML can be validated through an heuristic
evaluation organized in a layer model (associated
with the levels of internal structure of the XML
technology) by a small group of experts who check
the degree of fulfilment of the list of the usability
heuristics.
The heuristic evaluation is far better than the rest
of techniques and methods of usability evaluation in
cost, as it only needs a small number of evaluators.
Another additional advantage is that it does not need
an external interpretation of the user´s actions, as the
evaluators make the tests and elaborate the detailed
reports of the problems found. Moreover, in the
heuristic evaluation, there is the possibility of
interacting and helping the evaluators in order to
optimize the process of errors detection, in contrast
to the user´s tests, in which these must interact with
the Web site with no additional information, so that
it may be possible that any serious problem at the
beginning of the tests impedes them to continue with
the evaluation, making impossible to detect the rest
of the mistakes.
For all these advantages, it is advisory to make a
heuristic evaluation of any developed Web site, so
that most of the problems are found and solved with
a reduced cost, previous to any type of user´s test
planned on this Web site.
REFERENCES
ANSI/HFES 200. Human Factors Engineering of
Software User Interface. Parts 1-4. Human Factors
and Ergonomics Society.
ISO 9241. Ergonomic requirements for office work with
visual display terminals (VDTs). Parts 10 - 17.
International Organization for Standardization,
Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 13407, 1999. Human-centred design processes for
interactive systems. International Organization for
Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Nielsen, J., 1994. How to Conduct a Heuristic Evaluation.
( Online: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/
heuristic_evaluation.html)
Nielsen, J., 1995. Severity Ratings for Usability Problems.
(Online: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/
severityrating.html)
Nielsen, J. and Mack, R.L., 1994. Usability Inspection
Methods. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Nielsen, J. and Molich, R., 1990. Heuristic evaluation of
user interfaces, Proceedings ACM CHI'90 Conference,
pp. 249-256. ACM Press .
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