Behaviour-aware mobile touch interfaces

Mobile touch devices have become ubiquitous everyday tools for communication, information, as well as capturing, storing and accessing personal data. They are often seen as personal devices, linked to individual users, who access the digital part of their daily lives via hand-held touchscreens. This personal use and the importance of the touch interface motivate the main assertion of this thesis: Mobile touch interaction can be improved by enabling user interfaces to assess and take into account how the user performs these interactions. This thesis introduces the new term "behaviour-aware" to characterise such interfaces. These behaviour-aware interfaces aim to improve interaction by utilising behaviour data: Since users perform touch interactions for their main tasks anyway, inferring extra information from said touches may, for example, save users' time and reduce distraction, compared to explicitly asking them for this information (e.g. user identity, hand posture, further context). Behaviour-aware user interfaces may utilise this information in different ways, in particular to adapt to users and contexts. Important questions for this research thus concern understanding behaviour details and influences, modelling said behaviour, and inference and (re)action integrated into the user interface. In several studies covering both analyses of basic touch behaviour and a set of specific prototype applications, this thesis addresses these questions and explores three application areas and goals: 1) Enhancing input capabilities – by modelling users' individual touch targeting behaviour to correct future touches and increase touch accuracy. The research reveals challenges and opportunities of behaviour variability arising from factors including target location, size and shape, hand and finger, stylus use, mobility, and device size. The work further informs modelling and inference based on targeting data, and presents approaches for simulating touch targeting behaviour and detecting behaviour changes. 2) Facilitating privacy and security – by observing touch targeting and typing behaviour patterns to implicitly verify user identity or distinguish multiple users during use. The research shows and addresses mobile-specific challenges, in particular changing hand postures. It also reveals that touch targeting characteristics provide useful biometric value both in the lab as well as in everyday typing. Influences of common evaluation assumptions are assessed and discussed as well. 3) Increasing expressiveness – by enabling interfaces to pass on behaviour variability from input to output space, studied with a keyboard that dynamically alters the font based on current typing behaviour. Results show that with these fonts users can distinguish basic contexts as well as individuals. They also explicitly control font influences for personal communication with creative effects. This thesis further contributes concepts and implemented tools for collecting touch behaviour data, analysing and modelling touch behaviour, and creating behaviour-aware and adaptive mobile touch interfaces. Together, these contributions support researchers and developers in investigating and building such user interfaces. Overall, this research shows how variability in mobile touch behaviour can be addressed and exploited for the benefit of the users. The thesis further discusses opportunities for transfer and reuse of touch behaviour models and information across applications and devices, for example to address tradeoffs of privacy/security and usability. Finally, the work concludes by reflecting on the general role of behaviour-aware user interfaces, proposing to view them as a way of embedding expectations about user input into interactive artefacts

How Do Teachers and Students Perceive The Utility of Blackboard as a Distance Learning Platform? (Case Study from Taibah University, Saudi Arabia)

This research explores the role of Knowledge Management within the education field with a specific focus on the use of Learning Management Systems in the Distance Learning (e-learning) process. The aim of this study is to thoroughly examine how teachers and students perceive the utility of the Blackboard system as a distance learning platform. To achieve this, the study conducted qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaire surveys with the teachers and students of Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Questions in both data collection tools were geared towards gaining insight about how these two groups of Blackboard users view its usefulness as a distance learning tool. The results of the research revealed that Blackboard is viewed as a positive influence on distance learning, and that students view this application as an opportunity to avoid traditional, classroom learning activities. Also, the research discovered that teachers generally have a positive viewpoint about Blackboard, and believe it makes teaching a lot easier. Nevertheless, few issues were also mentioned by both groups of users, particularly the challenge of slow internet connections and difficulty of creating exams (teachers) or accessing and completing exams in a time-effective manner (students). To address these challenges, and any other as well, this research recommended that universities or learning institutions that decide to adopt LMS systems such as Blackboard for distance learning have to conduct a thorough analysis of their current structure, and determine how this new method of teaching/learning can be integrated into existing learning activities in a seamless manner. A thorough investigation will aid in forestalling any future challenges such as poor internet connections, as the school would have implemented measures to ensure this does not occur

Factors Affecting the Accessibility of IT Artifacts : A Systematic Review

Accessibility awareness and development have improved in the past two decades, but many users still encounter accessibility barriers when using information technology (IT) artifacts (e.g., user interfaces and websites). Current research in information systems and human-computer interaction disciplines explores methods, techniques, and factors affecting the accessibility of IT artifacts for a particular population and provides solutions to address these barriers. However, design realized in one solution should be used to provide accessibility to the widest range of users, which requires an integration of solutions. To identify the factors that cause accessibility barriers and the solutions for users with different needs, a systematic literature review was conducted. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by revealing (1) management- and development-level factors, and (2) user perspective factors affecting accessibility that address different accessibility barriers to different groups of population (based on the International Classification of Functioning by the World Health Organization). Based on these findings, we synthesize and illustrate the factors and solutions that need to be addressed when creating an accessible IT artifact.© 2022 by the Association for Information Systems. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and full citation on the first page. Copyright for components of this work owned by others than the Association for Information Systems must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior specific permission and/or fee. Request permission to publish from: AIS Administrative Office, P.O. Box 2712 Atlanta, GA, 30301-2712 Attn: Reprints are via e-mail from [email protected]=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Factors Affecting the Accessibility of IT Artifacts: A Systematic Review

Accessibility awareness and development have improved in the past two decades, but many users still encounter accessibility barriers when using information technology (IT) artifacts (e.g., user interfaces and websites). Current research in information systems and human-computer interaction disciplines explores methods, techniques, and factors affecting the accessibility of IT artifacts for a particular population and provides solutions to address these barriers. However, design realized in one solution should be used to provide accessibility to the widest range of users, which requires an integration of solutions. To identify the factors that cause accessibility barriers and the solutions for users with different needs, a systematic literature review was conducted. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by revealing (1) management- and development-level factors, and (2) user perspective factors affecting accessibility that address different accessibility barriers to different groups of population (based on the International Classification of Functioning by the World Health Organization). Based on these findings, we synthesize and illustrate the factors and solutions that need to be addressed when creating an accessible IT artifact

Contributions to Web Accessibility: Device-tailored Evaluation, User-tailored Interface Generation and the Interplay with User Experience

149 p.AbstractThe Web has an incredible importance in our modern society and for many people it has become a fundamental part of their lives. It enables us to Access a huge amount of information, and use a wide range of services related to diverse areas of our daily activities, which has the potential of making our lives easier. Its ubiquitous nature and advances in mobile devices have led to the possibility of accessing the Web any time and from anywhere. This has numerous and obvious advantages, but at the same time it poses challenges related to the Universal Design (UD), as websites need to adapt to the existing diversity of users, devices and interaction contexts. For instance, to ensure the accessibility of a website, in addition to the human diversity, the features of the existing computing devices with access to the Internet, as well as features of the environment where the interaction will occur have to be considered. Similarly, this information can be used when checking the accessibility of websites, so that evaluations are closer to what users are really experiencing when accessing the websites.In this thesis a device tailored web accessibility evaluation framework and an automated web-based user tailored interface generator are presented. The evaluation framework deals with device specific information. Empiricaldata showed that more accurate and reliable accessibility reports are obtained in comparison to performing evaluations that do not consider device specific information. The interface generator takes into consideration information about users and their interaction context, in order to adapt web based user interfaces. From the conducted case study it was concluded that the automatically generated user tailored user interfaces were fully operable.These two tools can be of great help for web developers to create and maintain accessible content for a wide range of users and interaction contexts. Accessible and adapted user interfaces do not necessarily provide users with an enhanced experience though. With the aim of investigating how accessible user interfaces influence the experience of users and understanding if accessibility is related to a better user experience, a user testing was conducted. In order to investigate this relationship, data from 11 participants was elicited about their subjective accessibility perceptions and their user experience with four websites with different levels of accessibility. Results showed that participants¿ user experience and their perceived web accessibility are closely related. In addition, web accessibility is correlated to three attributes (typical - original, conservative - innovative, lame - exciting) of the hedonic quality stimulation dimension of the user experience. These findings provide the web community with additional knowledge about the interactions between the user experience and web accessibility. LaburpenaWeb-ak izugarrizko garrantzia dauka gure gaur egungo gizartean, eta persona askorentzat beraien bizitzan funtsezkoa bihurtu da. Web-ak informazio kantitate handirako atzipena eta eguneroko ekintzekin erlazionatutako zerbitzu anitz erabiltzea ahalbidetzen du, beraz gure bizitza errazteko ahalmena dauka. Bere nonahiko izaerak eta gailu mugikorretan gertatu diren aurrerakuntzek,Web-a edozein momentutan eta edozein lekuan atzitzeko aukera eragin dute. Honek abantai anitz ditu, baina aldi berean Diseinu Unibertsalarekin zerikusia duten erronkak sortzen ditu. Adibidez, webgune baten irisgarritasuna ziurtatzeko, pertsonen aniztasunaz gain, Interneterako atzipena duten dispositiboen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruaren ezaugarriak hartu behar dira kontuan. Informazio hori ere erabili daiteke web guneen irisgarritasuna ebaluatzeko, era honetan ebaluazioek, erabiltzaileak web gunea atzitzerakoan duten esperientzarekin antza gehiago izango dute.Tesi honetan, web irisgarritasuna dispositibo mugikorren arabera ebaluatzen duen tresna bat eta erabiltzailei egokitzen diren Web-ean oinarritutako interfazeak automatikoki sortzen dituen sistema bat aurkezten dira. Ebaluazio tresnak dispositibo mugikorren ezaugarrien informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen du. Datu enpirikoen arabera, irisgarritasun ebaluazio txostenak zehatzagoak eta fidagarriagoak dira dispositibo mugikorren inguruko informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen bada irisgarritasun ebaluazioetan. Interfazeak sortzen dituen sistemak, erabiltzaileen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruneko informazioa erabiltzen du. Burututako ikerketa kasu baten emaitzen arabera, sistemak sortutako erabiltzaileei egokitutako interfazeak guztiz funtzionalak zirela ondorioztatu zen.Bi tresna hauek, eduki irisgarria mantentzeko eta sortzeko oso lagungarriak izan daitezke web garaitzaileentzat. Batez ere erabiltzaile anitz eta elkarrekintza ingurune desberdin ugari existitzen direla kontuan izanda. Interface irisgarri eta egokituek ordea, ez dute beti erabiltzaileen esperientzia hobetzen. Interfaze irisgarriek erabiltzaileen esperientzian duen eragina ikertzeko, eta ea irisgarritasuna erabiltzaileen esperientziaren hobekuntzarekin erlazionatuta dagoen ulertzeko, erabiltzaile proba bat burutu zen. Hamaika erabiltzaileen irisgarritasun pertzepzioa eta erabiltzaile esperentzia aztertu ziren lau web gune ezberdinen inguruan, gune bakoitzak irisgarritasun maila ezberdin bat zuelarik. Emaitzen arabera, erabiltzaileen esperientzia eta irisgarritasun pertzepzioa oso lotuta daude. Gainera web irisgarritasuna, erabiltzaile esperientziaren hiru atributuekin (antigoaleko - original, atzerakoi - berritzaile, aspergarri - interesgarri) erlazionatuta dagoela ikusi zen. Emaitza hauek, web irisgarritasunaren eta erabiltzaile esperientziaren arteko erlazioari buruzko ezagutza gehitzen du web komunitatera. ResumenLa Web tiene una importancia increíble en nuestra sociedad moderna, y para muchas personas se ha convertido en una parte fundamental de sus vidas. Nos posibilita el acceso a una gran cantidad de información, y el uso de un gran abanico de servicios relacionados con diversas áreas de nuestras actividades diarias, lo que tiene el potencial de hacernos la vida más fácil. Su naturaleza ubicua y los avances en los dispositivos móviles han posibilitado el acceso a la Web en cualquier momento y desde cualquier sitio. Esto tiene numerosas y obvias ventajas, pero a su vez plantea retos en relación al Diseño Universal, debido a que los sitios web tienen que estar adaptados a diversos dispositivos y contextos de interacción. Para asegurar la accesibilidad de un sitio web, además de la diversidad humana, hay que tener en cuenta también las características de los dispositivos con acceso a Internet, incluso las del entorno donde ocurre la interacción. De forma similar, esa información se puede usar al evaluar la accesibilidad de los sitios web, de manera que las evaluaciones estén más cerca de lo que los usuarios experimentan al acceder a un sitio web.En esta tesis se presenta una herramienta para evaluar la accesibilidad web a medida de los dispositivos móviles, y un sistema para la generación automática de interfaces web adaptadas al usuario. La herramienta de evaluación automática maneja información específica de dispositivos móviles. Los datos empíricos demuestran que se obtienen informes más precisos y fiables en comparación a realizar evaluaciones donde no se tiene en cuenta información específica de los dispositivos. El sistema generador de interfaces maneja información relativa a los usuarios y su contexto de interacción. Mediante el caso de estudio llevado a cabo, se concluyó que las interfaces generadas automáticamente adaptadas a los usuarios eran completamente operables.Éstas dos herramientas pueden ser de gran ayuda para los desarrolladores web para la creación y mantenimiento del contenido accesible teniendo en cuenta un amplio rango de usuarios y contextos de interacción. Sin embargo, las interfaces accesibles y adaptadas no necesariamente proporcionan una experiencia de usuario mejorada. Con el objetivo de investigar como influyen las interfaces accesibles en la experiencia de los usuarios, y entender si la accesibilidad esta relacionada con una mejora en la experiencia de usuario, se realizó una prueba de usuario. Para investigar esta relación, se analizaron datos de los 11 participantes sobre sus percepciones de accesibilidad y su experiencia de usuario con cuatro sitios web con diferentes niveles de accesibilidad. Los resultados demuestran que la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad percibida de los participantes están estrechamente relacionadas. Además, la accesibilidad web está correlacionada con tres atributos (típica - original, conservadora - innovadora, aburrida - interesante) de la cualidad hedónica de la experiencia de usuario. Estos resultados aportan a la comunidad web conocimiento adicional sobre la interacción entre la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad web

Diverse Contributions to Implicit Human-Computer Interaction

Cuando las personas interactúan con los ordenadores, hay mucha información que no se proporciona a propósito. Mediante el estudio de estas interacciones implícitas es posible entender qué características de la interfaz de usuario son beneficiosas (o no), derivando así en implicaciones para el diseño de futuros sistemas interactivos. La principal ventaja de aprovechar datos implícitos del usuario en aplicaciones informáticas es que cualquier interacción con el sistema puede contribuir a mejorar su utilidad. Además, dichos datos eliminan el coste de tener que interrumpir al usuario para que envíe información explícitamente sobre un tema que en principio no tiene por qué guardar relación con la intención de utilizar el sistema. Por el contrario, en ocasiones las interacciones implícitas no proporcionan datos claros y concretos. Por ello, hay que prestar especial atención a la manera de gestionar esta fuente de información. El propósito de esta investigación es doble: 1) aplicar una nueva visión tanto al diseño como al desarrollo de aplicaciones que puedan reaccionar consecuentemente a las interacciones implícitas del usuario, y 2) proporcionar una serie de metodologías para la evaluación de dichos sistemas interactivos. Cinco escenarios sirven para ilustrar la viabilidad y la adecuación del marco de trabajo de la tesis. Resultados empíricos con usuarios reales demuestran que aprovechar la interacción implícita es un medio tanto adecuado como conveniente para mejorar de múltiples maneras los sistemas interactivos.Leiva Torres, LA. (2012). Diverse Contributions to Implicit Human-Computer Interaction [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/17803Palanci

CON-INFO: A Context-based Methodology for Designing and Assessing the Quality of Adaptable MUIs in Healthcare Applications

Mobile technology is an integral part of the modern healthcare environment. The mobile user interface (MUI) serves as the bridge between the application and healthcare professionals. It is important that the physician be able to easily express his needs on the MUI and correctly interpret the information displayed. However, there are many challenges that face the designer in designing and developing context-sensitive MUIs in this environment. The adaptability of the MUI is considered to be one of the most important issues to address. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), MUI adaptability is a major problem in the healthcare context. For the designer, the hope is that new technologies will be developed, such as mobile devices adaptable to different environments, to enable customization of the application to the user’s context. In this thesis, we propose a new methodology for designing a context-based adaptable MUI for healthcare applications. This methodology offers a new approach to automated MUI context adaptation, and provides a solution for both the provider (designer) of the healthcare application and the consumer (physician). New techniques for adapting MUIs offer new opportunities for the MUI designer to maximize the benefits of mobile health technology by providing the best possible way for healthcare professionals to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. The proposed methodology is based on research contributions in four areas: (1) a new quality-in-use measurement model for validation purposes; (2) user stereotype modeling with a set of context descriptors, which formalize the domain expertise of the users; (3) context information modeling; and (4) use of the decision table technique to adapt the MUI features based on the context and the user stereotypes. The proposed quality-in-use model is inspired by the ISO/IEC 25010 and ISO/IEC 25022 international standards and adapted to healthcare applications. The first contribution is used in validating the quality-in-use of a software product developed according to the CON-INFO methodology, and the last three contributions are linked to form a methodology for development. The MUI features adapted to the needs of healthcare professionals have been implemented on the iPhone™ for validation purposes. An example of software for medical application is the Phoenix Health Information System (PHIS), which is in use at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH). PHIS2 is an updated desktop version developed based on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles. A new mobile-based version of PHIS2 (PHIS2-M) has since been introduced, to make PHIS accessible from a mobile-based platform. The proposed context-based and rule-based approach for MUI feature adaptability resulted in a new version of PHIS2-M – PHIS2-MA (MA stands for mobile adaptation). This thesis validates the proposed methodology and clearly demonstrates its usefulness, providing details of the four empirical studies conducted with the end-users (physicians) in a real environment at the KAUH. The results of the formal studies reveal that our CON-INFO methodology for designing an adaptable MUI led to improvements to the current application and allowed researchers to test successive versions of the ‘final’ application

Contributions to Web Accessibility: Device-tailored Evaluation, User-tailored Interface Generation and the Interplay with User Experience

149 p.AbstractThe Web has an incredible importance in our modern society and for many people it has become a fundamental part of their lives. It enables us to Access a huge amount of information, and use a wide range of services related to diverse areas of our daily activities, which has the potential of making our lives easier. Its ubiquitous nature and advances in mobile devices have led to the possibility of accessing the Web any time and from anywhere. This has numerous and obvious advantages, but at the same time it poses challenges related to the Universal Design (UD), as websites need to adapt to the existing diversity of users, devices and interaction contexts. For instance, to ensure the accessibility of a website, in addition to the human diversity, the features of the existing computing devices with access to the Internet, as well as features of the environment where the interaction will occur have to be considered. Similarly, this information can be used when checking the accessibility of websites, so that evaluations are closer to what users are really experiencing when accessing the websites.In this thesis a device tailored web accessibility evaluation framework and an automated web-based user tailored interface generator are presented. The evaluation framework deals with device specific information. Empiricaldata showed that more accurate and reliable accessibility reports are obtained in comparison to performing evaluations that do not consider device specific information. The interface generator takes into consideration information about users and their interaction context, in order to adapt web based user interfaces. From the conducted case study it was concluded that the automatically generated user tailored user interfaces were fully operable.These two tools can be of great help for web developers to create and maintain accessible content for a wide range of users and interaction contexts. Accessible and adapted user interfaces do not necessarily provide users with an enhanced experience though. With the aim of investigating how accessible user interfaces influence the experience of users and understanding if accessibility is related to a better user experience, a user testing was conducted. In order to investigate this relationship, data from 11 participants was elicited about their subjective accessibility perceptions and their user experience with four websites with different levels of accessibility. Results showed that participants¿ user experience and their perceived web accessibility are closely related. In addition, web accessibility is correlated to three attributes (typical - original, conservative - innovative, lame - exciting) of the hedonic quality stimulation dimension of the user experience. These findings provide the web community with additional knowledge about the interactions between the user experience and web accessibility. LaburpenaWeb-ak izugarrizko garrantzia dauka gure gaur egungo gizartean, eta persona askorentzat beraien bizitzan funtsezkoa bihurtu da. Web-ak informazio kantitate handirako atzipena eta eguneroko ekintzekin erlazionatutako zerbitzu anitz erabiltzea ahalbidetzen du, beraz gure bizitza errazteko ahalmena dauka. Bere nonahiko izaerak eta gailu mugikorretan gertatu diren aurrerakuntzek,Web-a edozein momentutan eta edozein lekuan atzitzeko aukera eragin dute. Honek abantai anitz ditu, baina aldi berean Diseinu Unibertsalarekin zerikusia duten erronkak sortzen ditu. Adibidez, webgune baten irisgarritasuna ziurtatzeko, pertsonen aniztasunaz gain, Interneterako atzipena duten dispositiboen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruaren ezaugarriak hartu behar dira kontuan. Informazio hori ere erabili daiteke web guneen irisgarritasuna ebaluatzeko, era honetan ebaluazioek, erabiltzaileak web gunea atzitzerakoan duten esperientzarekin antza gehiago izango dute.Tesi honetan, web irisgarritasuna dispositibo mugikorren arabera ebaluatzen duen tresna bat eta erabiltzailei egokitzen diren Web-ean oinarritutako interfazeak automatikoki sortzen dituen sistema bat aurkezten dira. Ebaluazio tresnak dispositibo mugikorren ezaugarrien informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen du. Datu enpirikoen arabera, irisgarritasun ebaluazio txostenak zehatzagoak eta fidagarriagoak dira dispositibo mugikorren inguruko informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen bada irisgarritasun ebaluazioetan. Interfazeak sortzen dituen sistemak, erabiltzaileen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruneko informazioa erabiltzen du. Burututako ikerketa kasu baten emaitzen arabera, sistemak sortutako erabiltzaileei egokitutako interfazeak guztiz funtzionalak zirela ondorioztatu zen.Bi tresna hauek, eduki irisgarria mantentzeko eta sortzeko oso lagungarriak izan daitezke web garaitzaileentzat. Batez ere erabiltzaile anitz eta elkarrekintza ingurune desberdin ugari existitzen direla kontuan izanda. Interface irisgarri eta egokituek ordea, ez dute beti erabiltzaileen esperientzia hobetzen. Interfaze irisgarriek erabiltzaileen esperientzian duen eragina ikertzeko, eta ea irisgarritasuna erabiltzaileen esperientziaren hobekuntzarekin erlazionatuta dagoen ulertzeko, erabiltzaile proba bat burutu zen. Hamaika erabiltzaileen irisgarritasun pertzepzioa eta erabiltzaile esperentzia aztertu ziren lau web gune ezberdinen inguruan, gune bakoitzak irisgarritasun maila ezberdin bat zuelarik. Emaitzen arabera, erabiltzaileen esperientzia eta irisgarritasun pertzepzioa oso lotuta daude. Gainera web irisgarritasuna, erabiltzaile esperientziaren hiru atributuekin (antigoaleko - original, atzerakoi - berritzaile, aspergarri - interesgarri) erlazionatuta dagoela ikusi zen. Emaitza hauek, web irisgarritasunaren eta erabiltzaile esperientziaren arteko erlazioari buruzko ezagutza gehitzen du web komunitatera. ResumenLa Web tiene una importancia increíble en nuestra sociedad moderna, y para muchas personas se ha convertido en una parte fundamental de sus vidas. Nos posibilita el acceso a una gran cantidad de información, y el uso de un gran abanico de servicios relacionados con diversas áreas de nuestras actividades diarias, lo que tiene el potencial de hacernos la vida más fácil. Su naturaleza ubicua y los avances en los dispositivos móviles han posibilitado el acceso a la Web en cualquier momento y desde cualquier sitio. Esto tiene numerosas y obvias ventajas, pero a su vez plantea retos en relación al Diseño Universal, debido a que los sitios web tienen que estar adaptados a diversos dispositivos y contextos de interacción. Para asegurar la accesibilidad de un sitio web, además de la diversidad humana, hay que tener en cuenta también las características de los dispositivos con acceso a Internet, incluso las del entorno donde ocurre la interacción. De forma similar, esa información se puede usar al evaluar la accesibilidad de los sitios web, de manera que las evaluaciones estén más cerca de lo que los usuarios experimentan al acceder a un sitio web.En esta tesis se presenta una herramienta para evaluar la accesibilidad web a medida de los dispositivos móviles, y un sistema para la generación automática de interfaces web adaptadas al usuario. La herramienta de evaluación automática maneja información específica de dispositivos móviles. Los datos empíricos demuestran que se obtienen informes más precisos y fiables en comparación a realizar evaluaciones donde no se tiene en cuenta información específica de los dispositivos. El sistema generador de interfaces maneja información relativa a los usuarios y su contexto de interacción. Mediante el caso de estudio llevado a cabo, se concluyó que las interfaces generadas automáticamente adaptadas a los usuarios eran completamente operables.Éstas dos herramientas pueden ser de gran ayuda para los desarrolladores web para la creación y mantenimiento del contenido accesible teniendo en cuenta un amplio rango de usuarios y contextos de interacción. Sin embargo, las interfaces accesibles y adaptadas no necesariamente proporcionan una experiencia de usuario mejorada. Con el objetivo de investigar como influyen las interfaces accesibles en la experiencia de los usuarios, y entender si la accesibilidad esta relacionada con una mejora en la experiencia de usuario, se realizó una prueba de usuario. Para investigar esta relación, se analizaron datos de los 11 participantes sobre sus percepciones de accesibilidad y su experiencia de usuario con cuatro sitios web con diferentes niveles de accesibilidad. Los resultados demuestran que la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad percibida de los participantes están estrechamente relacionadas. Además, la accesibilidad web está correlacionada con tres atributos (típica - original, conservadora - innovadora, aburrida - interesante) de la cualidad hedónica de la experiencia de usuario. Estos resultados aportan a la comunidad web conocimiento adicional sobre la interacción entre la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad web

Investigation of a Novel Formal Model for Mobile User Interface Design

Mobile user interfaces are becoming increasingly complex due to the expanding range of functionalities that they incorporate, which poses significant difficulties in software development. Formal methods are beneficial for highly complex software systems, as they enable the designed behaviour of a mobile user interface (UI) to be modelled and tested for accuracy before implementation. Indeed, assessing the compatibility between the software specification and user requirements and verifying the implementation in relation to the specification are essential procedures in the development process of any type of UI. To ensure that UIs meet users‘ requirements and competences, approaches that are based on interaction between humans and computers employ a variety of methods to address key issues. The development of underlying system functionality and UIs benefit from formal methods as well as from user-interface design specifications. Therefore, both approaches are incorporated into the software development process in this thesis. However, this integration is not an easy task due to the discrepancies between the two approaches. It also includes a method, which can be applied for both simple and complex UI applications. To overcome the issue of integrating both approaches, the thesis proposes a new formal model called the Formal Model of Mobile User Interface Design (FMMUID). This model is devised to characterise the composition of the UI design based on hierarchical structure and a set theory language. To determine its applicability and validity, the FMMUID is implemented in two real-world case studies: the quiz game iPlayCode and the social media application Social Communication (SC). A comparative analysis is undertaken between two case studies, where each case study has three existing applications with similar functionality in terms of structure and numbers of elements, functions and colours. Furthermore, the case studies are also assessed from a human viewpoint, which reveals that they possess better usability. The assessment supports the viability of the proposed model as a guiding tool for software development. The efficiency of the proposed model is confirmed by the result that the two case studies are less complex than the other UI applications in terms of hierarchical structure and numbers of elements, functions and colours, whilst also presenting acceptable usability in terms of the four examined dimensions: usefulness, information quality, interface quality, and overall satisfaction. Hence, the proposed model can facilitate the development process of mobile UI applications