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Using standards to increase usability in web applications

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Title: Using standards to increase usability in web applications


1
  • Using standards to increase usability in web
    applications

MCC. Mary Carmen Garduño Application Developer
Manager Professor at the Information Systems
Department
2
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

3
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.

4
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.

5
Web site http//www.cem.itesm.mx
6
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

7
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.

8
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.

9
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

10
Do you remember?
Apple II desktop 1.1
MAC System 1.1
11
And this?
Windows 1.01
12
And then.....
  • We evolve....
  • Information systems began to use web pages as
    user interfaces......

13
  • But ... not only software engineers develop web
    pages !!!!

14
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?

15
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

16
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.

17
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.

18
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
19
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.

20
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.

21
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.

22
A quick view
DESIGN
PROTOTYPE
EVALUATE
MEET USABILITY ?
READY TO IMPLEMENT
23
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
24
ISO 9241
  • The document ISO 9241-11 (1998) Guidance on
    Usability

25
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

26
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

27
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.

28
Joining all together
HAPPY USERS
29
Standards? Which ones?
SW Development
I S O
H C I
Web Standards
?
30
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.

31
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

32
Answer the question
  • What is....?
  • Understandability
  • Learnability
  • Operability
  • Attractiveness

33
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

34
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

35
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.

36
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.

37
ITIL
38
Application Management
39
Requirements Stage
  • There are three types of requirements for
    decision-makers to consider
  • functional requirements
  • non-functional requirements
  • usability requirements.

40
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.

41
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.

42
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.

43
What to do?
  • Establish usability guides for the requirement
    stage.
  • Establish design considerations for the design
    stage.
  • Establish checklist for testing usability
    compliance.

44
  • Give customers what they need, not necessarily
    what they ask for...
  • LISTEN TO THEM!!!!!
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