Adhering to International and Culture-related Usability Guidelines: A Basis for Developing Localized User-friendly Websites

Modern websites provide multiple forms of information such as images, text, audio, video, and different ways of accessing them. As the use of website becomes a global phenomenon, international usability guidelines are provided in order to enhance user experience. A major challenge lies in the lack of research data on the preferences of localized users. Without such data, many websites will be created that may not serve the needs of an intended user group, especially in a multi-cultural society. This will amount to a waste of time and resources. This paper describes web-design and usability guidelines and explains their importance to practice. It discusses why, when, and how these guidelines are applied in designing a responsive and easy-to-use website for any setting of choice. It emphasizes that, in addition to applying international usability standards and guidelines, website designers and owners should pay attention to culture-related usability preferences in order to develop localized and user-friendly websites. The paper highlights important features of websites that must be given priority in the design process. It draws attention to the need for an iterating process for usability testing of websites in order to improve their functions as information systems that serve the purpose of the owner and the needs of the users. The paper suggests more studies to be carried out with local website users, especially in Africa and the developing nations of the world, in order to develop usability guidelines that include the cultural preferences of the users. Keywords: Usability testing, heuristics, websites, interactivity, culture-related usability, localized websites, user-friendly website

Information Security Models are a Solution or Puzzle for SMEs? A Systematic Literature Review

Effective information security management is necessary in the success of any organisation, including Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Nonetheless, keeping their security needs met is always a challenge for SMEs. One of the proven ways to manage information security is through applying available international standards, frameworks and best practices. However, choosing a suitable model that addresses the SMEs holistic needs may be an overwhelming task. This systematic literature review formed the initial phase of a larger analytical project of existing models in three categories: risk management models, standards-based models and ‘other’ models. The review showed that most of models are theoretically conceived but have not been further tested empirically. Hence, their usability is unknown. More in-depth research is required to find a suitable model that may be applicable to all SMEs

Digital library research : current developments and trends

This column gives an overview of current trends in digital library research under the following headings: digital library architecture, systems, tools and technologies; digital content and collections; metadata; interoperability; standards; knowledge organisation systems; users and usability; legal, organisational, economic, and social issues in digital libraries

Critical Success Factors for Positive User Experience in Hotel Websites: Applying Herzberg's Two Factor Theory for User Experience Modeling

This research presents the development of a critical success factor matrix for increasing positive user experience of hotel websites based upon user ratings. Firstly, a number of critical success factors for web usability have been identified through the initial literature review. Secondly, hotel websites were surveyed in terms of critical success factors identified through the literature review. Thirdly, Herzberg's motivation theory has been applied to the user rating and the critical success factors were categorized into two areas. Finally, the critical success factor matrix has been developed using the two main sets of data.Comment: Journal articl

The Measurement of Quality of Semantic Standards: the Application of a Quality Model on the SETU standard for eGovernment

eGovernment interoperability should be dealt with using high-quality standards. A quality model for standards is presented based on knowledge from the software engineering domain. In the tradition of action research the model is used on the SETU standard, a standard that is mandatory in the public sector of the Netherlands in order to achieve eGovernment interoperability. This results in improvement suggestions for the SETU standards, just as improvement suggestions for the quality model have been identified. Most importantly it shows that a quality model can be used for several purposes, including selecting standards for eGovernment interoperability

The assessment of usability of electronic shopping: A heuristic evaluation

Today there are thousands of electronic shops accessible via the Web. Some provide user-friendly features whilst others seem not to consider usability factors at all. Yet, it is critical that the electronic shopping interface is user-friendly so as to help users to obtain their desired results. This study applied heuristic evaluation to examine the usability of current electronic shopping. In particular, it focused on four UK-based supermarkets offering electronic services: including ASDA, Iceland, Sainsbury, and Tesco. The evaluation consists of two stages: a free-flow inspection and a task-based inspection. The results indicate that the most significant and common usability problems have been found to lie within the areas of ‘User Control and Freedom’ and ‘Help and Documentation’. The findings of this study are applied to develop a set of usability guidelines to support the future design of effective interfaces for electronic shopping

Finding and Resolving Security Misusability with Misusability Cases

Although widely used for both security and usability concerns, scenarios used in security design may not necessarily inform the design of usability, and vice- versa. One way of using scenarios to bridge security and usability involves explicitly describing how design deci- sions can lead to users inadvertently exploiting vulnera- bilities to carry out their production tasks. This paper describes how misusability cases, scenarios that describe how design decisions may lead to usability problems sub- sequently leading to system misuse, address this problem. We describe the related work upon which misusability cases are based before presenting the approach, and illus- trating its application using a case study example. Finally, we describe some findings from this approach that further inform the design of usable and secure systems

Holistic approaches to e‐learning accessibility

The importance of accessibility to digital e‐learning resources is widely acknowledged. The World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative has played a leading role in promoting the importance of accessibility and developing guidelines that can help when developing accessible web resources. The accessibility of e‐learning resources provides additional challenges. While it is important to consider the technical and resource related aspects of e‐learning when designing and developing resources for students with disabilities, there is a need to consider pedagogic and contextual issues as well. A holistic framework is therefore proposed and described, which in addition to accessibility issues takes into account learner needs, learning outcomes, local factors, infrastructure, usability and quality assurance. The practical application and implementation of this framework is discussed and illustrated through the use of examples and case studies

Digital Library Evaluation: Toward an Evolution of Concepts

published or submitted for publicatio