Evaluating Software Engineers' Acceptance of a Technique and Tool for Web Usability Inspection

Abstract-Usability is related to software quality, improving its ability to be understood, operated and attractive to users. We proposed the Design Usability Evaluation (DUE) technologies to allow identifying usability problems earlier in the development of Web applications, through the inspection of mockups. While we found that the DUE technique and tool were effective and efficient in the identification of usability problems, we saw the need to investigate their acceptance in practitioners' work environment. This paper reports the results from a study evaluating the acceptance of the DUE technologies from the point of view of software engineers. We asked questions based on the indicators from the Technology Acceptance Model and identified that a majority of the software engineers who participated in the study: (a) found the DUE technologies useful and easy to use for supporting the usability inspection process; and (b) would regularly use the DUE technologies for future inspections in their job. Nevertheless, the practitioners indicated that the technique should be refined in order to reduce the ambiguity and repetition of some of its items, while the tool should become more intuitive

Characterizing Usability Inspection Methods through the Analysis of a Systematic Mapping Study Extension

Usability is one of the most relevant quality aspects in Web applications. A Web application is usable if it provides a friendly, direct and easy to understand interface. Many Usability Inspection Methods (UIMs) have been proposed as a cost effective way to enhance usability. However, many companies are not aware of these UIMs and consequently, are not using them. A secondary study can identify, evaluate and interpret all data that is relevant to the current knowledge available regarding UIMs that have been used to evaluate Web applications in the past few decades. Therefore, we have extended a systematic mapping study about Usability Evaluation Methods by analyzing 26 of its research papers from which we extracted and categorized UIMs. We provide practitioners and researches with the rationale to understand both the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging UIMs for the Web. Furthermore, we have summarized the relevant information of the UIMs, which suggested new ideas or theoretical basis regarding usability inspection in the Web domain. In addition, we present a new UIM and a tool for Web usability inspection starting from the results shown in this paper