Using standards to increase usability in web applications

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• Using standards to increase usability in web
  applications

MCC. Mary Carmen Garduño Application Developer
Manager Professor at the Information Systems
Department
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Agenda

• Introduction
• México Tecnológico de Monterrey
• Web pages at Tec of Monterrey
• User Interfaces
• Standards
• Software Development
• Usability ISO 9241 and ISO 9126
• Web Standards
• Conclusions

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Tecnologico de Monterrey

• As of 2004, Tecnologico de Monterrey has 33 campi
  in Mexico and a Virtual University with presence
  in Mexico and other countries. It has an
  enrollment of 96,832 students - 28,986 in high
  school, 57,181 in undergraduate programs and
  10,665 in graduate programs- and 8,253 faculty
  members, of whom 1,208 have doctoral degrees.

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Web pages

• We have a web page developed by the Public
  Relations department and hosted by the IT
  department.
• These pages have templates design en the PR.
• We have several java developed in-house
  applications using WEB INTERFACES.

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Web site http//www.cem.itesm.mx
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Usability and Interfaces

• Usability means ease of learning and ease of use.
• Daniel McCracken
• The HFES states (1957) that as humans we have to
  promote that devices and systems of all kinds,
  will meet human being characteristics.
• http//www.hfes.org/web/Default.aspx

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User Interfaces

• As in the late 1970's and 1980's computers began
  to became accesible for many people. Non- expert
  users began to use computers so manufacturers
  started to think in creating products that were
  friendly to users.
• Researchers and practitioners had make vital
  contributions to apply human factors to
  interface development.

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Interfaces

• The developing of web pages was first the job of
  software designers. The software designers main
  purpose was to make information systems that
  would meet the requirements of the clients, but
  without taking care of the look an feel.
• At the beginning, formal education didn't
  encourage to join concepts of perception,
  psicology and web page development.

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SW developers and usability

• The main factors that make software engineers not
  aware of usability concepts were
• Old plain interfaces for end users
• Old fashioned development techniques where
  functionality and time compliance were the main
  interests.
• No contact with end users, only managers
• No contact with business objectives or company
  goals
• No real measurements of clients' feelings about
  systems

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Do you remember?
Apple II desktop 1.1
MAC System 1.1
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And this?
Windows 1.01
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And then.....

• We evolve....
• Information systems began to use web pages as
  user interfaces......

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• But ... not only software engineers develop web
  pages !!!!

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A big question

• Is a web page an Information system?
• If it is, can we use the Software Development
  Life Cycle (SDLC) to create it?

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SDLC

• Software development formal methodologies didn't
  include the end users during the software
  development life cycle (SDLC), the users don't
  know about computers

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Two of them

• Analysing formal development methodologies
  especially MSF, RUP the main purpose was to
  develop information systems on time, meeting
  the most user requirements.
• MSF contained good guidelines based upon
  experiences and best practices for having the
  roles of various team members in a software
  development project clearly defined.

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SDLC

• The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is an
  iterative software development process, in which
  all the stages have documents and key facts for
  having success in building software.
• Documentation is the aim for having a good
  development process.

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But...

• MSF and RUP encourage during the requirements and
  analysis phases to caption common vocabulary,
  find actors and task analysis but.....
• What about....
• colors
• fonts
• metaphors
• mental maps

USER PERSON
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Things began to change

• In 1982, the ACM, create a special group on
  Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI). This was the
  result of researchers studying human factors
  that involve human behavior, especially in
  specific workplaces.
• Their main goal was to make people's experience
  with computers more productive, more time
  efficient and more pleasant.

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Goals of HCI

• As a result 7 principles were developed as Human
  Computer Interaction appears
• Safety, utility, learnability, effectiveness,
  efficiency, ease of used, attitude of users
  towards a system.

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User Centered Development

• On the other hand, UCI is an iterative approach
  which includes the users as their main focus
  during their analysis stage.
• It includes elements that help users to figure
  out how the interface may look.

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A quick view
DESIGN
PROTOTYPE
EVALUATE
MEET USABILITY ?
READY TO IMPLEMENT
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Another approach ISO

• There have been a couple of efforts for making
  standards for increse quality in creating
  Information Systems an Software development.
• Two of them are
• ISO 9241
• ISO 9126

I S O
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ISO 9241

• The document ISO 9241-11 (1998) Guidance on
  Usability

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ISO 9241

• Usability the capability of the
• software product to be understood, learned, used
  and attractive to the user, when used under
  specified conditions.
• Principles used
• Understandability
• Learnability
• Operability
• Attractiveness

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One more ISO 9126

• It is an international standard for evaluating
  software.
• Usability - A set of attributes that bear on the
  effort needed for use, and on the individual
  assessment of such use, by a stated or implied
  set of users.
• Learnability
• Understandability
• Operability

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Finally.... web standards!

• Technical specifications that define and describe
  aspects of the World Wide Web (W3C)?
• Xhtml
• Html
• CSS
• Javascripts
• Their mainfocus is on making web pages portable,
  efficient, they talk about accesibility, but
  usability?
• Effort are done en the W3C for meeting usability
  specifications.

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Joining all together
HAPPY USERS
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Standards? Which ones?
SW Development
I S O
H C I
Web Standards
?
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Conclusion

• Usability is now recognized as an important
  software quality attribute, earning its place
  among more traditional attributes such as
  performance and robustness. Indeed, various
  academic programs focus on usability.

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Taking the best of all

• 1) USABILITY CONCEPTS
• Trainning designers, SW engineers (and anyone who
  is making web interfaces) to conduct usability
  and accesibility analysis.
• Reading
• Heuristic Evaluation of User Interfaces, Jacob
  Nielsen y Rolf Molich
• How C.R.A.P is Your Site Design? by Mike
  Rundle

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Answer the question

• What is....?
• Understandability
• Learnability
• Operability
• Attractiveness

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STEP 2

• 2) USABILITY POLICIES
• A web page is the entrance to a new world, a
  world in which everything is possible so...
• Treat this world as a professional one!!!!
• a) Implement changes in the SDLC to increase
  usability on information systems. Use an Hybrid
  UCD .... whatever.
• Read the articleIntegration of Usability
  Techniques into the Software Development Process
  by Xavier Ferre

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Step 2

• b) Put this words into the real world
• eg.To gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery
  of through experience or study.
• put the save button on the bottom of the form

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STEP 3

• 3) USABILITY EVALUATION
• Apply evaluation on the existing pages for
  verifying the application of the usability and
  accesibility policies
• Recomendation Checklists are designed for
  trainning web pages developers in knowing
  usability concepts and for evaluating their work.

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ITIL Quick overview

• ITIL provides a comprehensive and consistent set
  of best practices for IT service management.
• It promotes a quality approach in the use of
  information systems.
• ITIL is based on the collective experience of
  commercial and governmental practitioners
  worldwide.

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ITIL
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Application Management
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Requirements Stage

• There are three types of requirements for
  decision-makers to consider
• functional requirements
• non-functional requirements
• usability requirements.

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ITIL Usability

• The primary purpose of usability requirements is
  to ensure that the system meets the expectations
  of its users with regard to its ease of use. The
  work product is used to
• provide baseline guidance to the user interface
  developers on user interface design
• establish performance standards for usability
  evaluations
• define test scenarios for usability test plans
  and usability testing.

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ITIL- Design Stage

• Design for non-functional requirements means
  giving non-functional requirements a level of
  importance similar to that for the functional
  requirements, and including them as a mandatory
  part of the design phase.

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ITIL- Recomendations

• It is now inconceivable in modern application
  development projects that User interface design
  (usability requirements) would be omitted as a
  key design activity. However, many organisations
  ignore or forget manageability.

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What to do?

• Establish usability guides for the requirement
  stage.
• Establish design considerations for the design
  stage.
• Establish checklist for testing usability
  compliance.

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• Give customers what they need, not necessarily
  what they ask for...
• LISTEN TO THEM!!!!!