A study of the usability of handwriting recognition for text entry by children

This paper describes a pilot study that investigated the usability of handwriting recognition for text entry in a free writing activity. The study was carried out with eighteen children aged 7 and 8; each used three different writing methods to construct short pieces of text. The methods used were; pencil and paper, the QWERTY keyboard at a computer, and a pen and graphics tablet. Where the pen and graphics tablet was used, the handwritten text was recognised by the software and presented back to the children as ASCII text. Measures of user satisfaction, quantity of text produced, and quality of writing produced, were taken. In addition, for the handwritten work, the recognition process was evaluated by comparing what the child wrote with the resulting ASCII text. The results show that the children that took part in the study generally produced lengthier texts at the graphics tablet than at the QWERTY keyboard but that the non-technical solution, the pencil and paper was, in this instance, the overall best method for composing writing. To further the debate on the possibilities for digital ink and tablet technologies, key usability problems with the handwriting recognition interface are identified and classified, and solutions to these usability problems, in the form of design guidelines for both recognition-based and pen-based computer writing interfaces, are presented. Additionally, some reflections on how studies of text input and free writing composition can be evaluated are offered.     

Usability Research in the Writing Lab: Sustaining Discourse and Pedagogy

Redesigning Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) presented the opportunity for collaboration among Writing Center and Professional Writing Program members. While the article briefly describes the OWL redesign process, the argument focuses on collaboration and presents a model for sustainable intraprogram collaboration. Following Hawhee, usability research is defined as “invention-in-the-middle,” which offers a model for understanding research process as part of the infrastructure of new media instruction as described by DeVoss, Cushman, and Grabill. This article offers four stakeholder perspectives on the process of participatory technology design: of writing center administrators, graduate students, technical writing practitioners, and writing program graduate faculty members. The model asserted by this article presents a dynamic understanding of expertise and of fluidity in the roles of participants. Collaborative usability research, seen as invention-in-the-middle, contributes both to long-term sustainability of technological artifacts as well as the discursive interactions among stakeholders whose work supports these artifacts.     

An investigation on Ribbon interface design guidelines for people with less computer literacy

In the recent years, there is an intense competition between software development companies to design better interfaces. In this marketing rat race, Ribbon interface came to make software user interface easier. After the introduction of Ribbon by Microsoft, it was widely used by various software development companies. Ribbon is a replacement for menus and toolbars and it tends to organize tools in tabs based on their similarities. Although Ribbon interface has many advantages, previous researches have shown that there are serious usability issues that hinder usage of Ribbon interfaces for users with less computer literacy. In order to solve Ribbon interfaces usability issues, this study tried to introduce Ribbon interface design guidelines by focusing on the issues related to users with less computer literacy. In this study two separate sets of moderated (in-person) usability testing were used. The first set evaluated the usability issues of an experimental Ribbon interface software in terms of both visual and cognitive issues. The second set was used to evaluate the Ribbon interface prototype that was designed based on the discovered usability issues in the first usability test. In order to ensure the validity of the data, the researchers tried to triangulate the data collection process by collecting data from different sources, namely, quantitative measurement of participants' performance, direct observation, and interview. Based on the comparison of the usability tests results which points out the factors that have led to participants' performance improvement in the prototype version, a number of guidelines are extracted for Ribbon interfaces. These guidelines are applicable to Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint and most of the software that can be developed with Ribbon interface. Putting these guidelines into action, self-learning would be promoted and learning issues of users with less computer literacy would be decreased.     

Design of Mobile Phones for Older Adults: An Empirical Analysis of Design Guidelines and Checklists for Feature Phones and Smartphones

Design guidelines and checklists are suggested as a useful tool in the development and evaluation of interface design of mobile phones for older adults. Given the intense evolution of mobile phone design, understanding how the design guidelines and checklists have taken into account the advances in mobile phone usability for older adults is important for their correct application and future development. Thus, this study explores the usability dimensions of mobile phone design for older adults and the related changes in terms of time and the type of device (feature phones vs. smartphones) based on an expert coding of the eight mobile phone design guidelines and checklists for older adults published between 2006 and 2014. The results of the expert coding show that design guidelines and checklists most frequently deal with visual and haptic issues (e.g., high contrast, button type, and button size), whilst they hardly ever address various elements of textual interface (e.g., ease of text entry, a button’s feedback, and font type). Over time, the design guidelines and checklists have become more complex in terms of the average number of included usability categories and dimensions. For smartphones, the guidelines, on average, put more emphasis on the screen, touchscreen, text, and exterior related issues, whereas the design guidelines for feature phones stress the usability of the keypad and menus. Besides revealing potential usability dimensions that could be further expanded in the guidelines, this study also highlights the need for research that would empirically validate the design guidelines and checklists in the future.     

The identification,implementation, and evaluation of critical user interface design features of computer-assisted instruction programs in mathematics for students with learning disabilities

Critical user interface design features of computer-assisted instruction programs in mathematics for students with learning disabilities and corresponding implementation guidelines were identified in this study. Based on the identified features and guidelines, a multimedia computer-assisted instruction program, ‘Math Explorer’, which delivers addition and subtraction word problem-solving instruction for students with learning disabilities at the early elementary level, was designed and developed. Lastly, usability testing was conducted to assess whether Math Explorer was well-designed in terms of the interface for students with learning disabilities. Given the results of the usability testing, this study corroborated the fact that the critical user interface design features and guidelines in mathematics computer-assisted instruction programs would be essential for facilitating the mathematical learning of students with learning disabilities. Implications for practice and future research were discussed.     

Designing and equipping a usability laboratory

The goal of usability lab design is to create a space where high quality data capture occurs in an environment that looks and feels like the workplace of the product that is being tested. The lab must be part recording studio and part flexible work environment. Since most work environments are not recording studios, achieving a balance between simulation of the work environment and high quality data capture presents a challenge to usability lab designers. Steps can be taken with a user-centred design process to insure that a usability lab design meets this goal. This paper describes such a user-centred design process and how it. in combination with practical architectural and equipment guidelines derived from the authors' past experience, can be used in the design and redesign of future labs. The authors also discuss what changed in the present lab at NCR as a result of these guidelines.     

Visual design guidelines for improving learning from dynamic and interactive digital text

Despite the dynamic and interactive features of digital text, the visual design guidelines for digital text are similar to those for printed text. The purpose of this study was to develop visual design guidelines for improving learning from dynamic and interactive digital text and to validate them by controlled testing. Two structure design guidelines (for enhancing text structure comprehension) and two selective-attention design guidelines (for maintaining the learners' attention on the essential contents) were developed based on the psychological and instructional, technological foundations that can affect the visual design of digital text. In this study, a 2 × 2 factorial design with 141 university students was used to examine the effectiveness of the visual design guidelines. The university students had 20 min to study a piece of digital text with the structure design guidelines, selective-attention design guidelines, both, or no design guidelines applied. Both the structure and selective-attention design guidelines had a positive influence on text structure understanding, essential contents comprehension and usability of digital text. The suggested visual design guidelines were found to be useful for enhancing text comprehension.     

Usability methods’ familiarity among map application developers

Developments in hardware and software have led to new innovative methods for visualising geospatial data. At the same time user-centred design (UCD) and usability engineering methods have a fundamental role in designing applications for new technical environments, which involve entirely new ways of interacting. However, applying methods from other research disciplines may not always be straightforward, as the product developers have to operate in a challenging interdisciplinary field. The aim of this study was to find out how usability engineering is currently included in the development of map services. Seven companies developing different types of map applications in Finland were interviewed. The results support the suitability of usability engineering for map application design, since by including the usability approach into the product design, while simultaneously taking into account the individuality and diversity of users and their tasks together with the characteristics of the maps, application developers are more likely to design products that have a higher quality of use. This study identifies the main occasions when the usability approach could be most beneficial. Furthermore, the benefits and challenges of including usability approaches in map application design are discussed. Preliminary ideas on what usability means in the context of map applications are also given. Finally, the importance for providing a basis for the further development of application-specific guidelines and techniques is addressed.     

Designing and equipping a usability laboratory

Abstract

The goal of usability lab design is to create a space where high quality data capture occurs in an environment that looks and feels like the workplace of the product that is being tested. The lab must be part recording studio and part flexible work environment. Since most work environments are not recording studios, achieving a balance between simulation of the work environment and high quality data capture presents a challenge to usability lab designers. Steps can be taken with a user-centred design process to insure that a usability lab design meets this goal. This paper describes such a user-centred design process and how it. in combination with practical architectural and equipment guidelines derived from the authors' past experience, can be used in the design and redesign of future labs. The authors also discuss what changed in the present lab at NCR as a result of these guidelines.     

A Path to Providing User-Centered Subject Guides

The experience at the University of Akron illustrates a transitional path from static websites to dynamic, user-centered Web design. Starting with Web-based subject resource guides that were difficult to maintain and navigate, University Libraries migrated to a content management system that solved existing maintenance issues and created the opportunity for interactive resource lists. Subsequent usability testing found that users needed librarian-designed subject guides to understand and access resources. Consequently, University Libraries redesigned its website functionality. In the course of this article, it is shown that ease of maintenance and ease of use need not be mutually exclusive.     

Breaking away from the conventional 'usability lab': the Customer-Centered Design Group at Tektronix, Inc.

The conventional usability lab is primarily responsible for testing prototypes and products to determine if customers will accept a new design. Often this testing comes too late in the development cycle to allow major design or product changes to occur. In the Customer-Centered Design Group at Tektronix Labs, the usability lab is a small part of our group's involvement in the entire design life cycle of a Tektronix product. We work with design groups to bring the benefits of a usability lab to all phases of design, beginning with understanding our customer's current system and work processes to assessing the competitor's strengths and weaknesses to simulating and evaluating design alternatives. Our 'lab' is often on the road; meeting with customers where they work, working with design teams to simulate and prototype designs, and evaluating designs with our customers. To keep in touch with customers and to keep product development focused, we feel a usability group must break down the barriers inherent in a conventional testing suite. By breaking these barriers we can better determine what customers need and how these needs are addressed throughout the entire product life cycle.     

What we know about dyslexia and Web accessibility: a research review

Compared to the online interaction behavior of other users, little is known about the difficulties dyslexic Web users encounter online. This paper reviews existing literature at the intersection of dyslexia and accessibility research to determine what useful knowledge exists regarding this important and relatively large group of users. This review uncovers that, although there are few published usability tests with dyslexic users, there is a considerable body of knowledge on dyslexia as well as many design guidelines for authoring dyslexic-accessible interfaces. Through a comparison of existing accessibility guidelines for dyslexic and non-dyslexic users and discussion of the plain language movement, it is argued that dyslexic-accessible practices may redress difficulties encountered by all Internet users. This conclusion suggests that usability testing yielding a clearer profile of the dyslexic user would further inform the practice of universal design, but also that enough knowledge is already available to allow doing more to increase accessibility for dyslexic Internet users.     

Training software developers and designers to conduct usability evaluations

Many efforts to improve the interplay between usability evaluation and software development rely either on better methods for conducting usability evaluations or on better formats for presenting evaluation results in ways that are useful for software designers and developers. Both of these approaches depend on a complete division of work between developers and evaluators. This article takes a different approach by exploring whether software developers and designers can be trained to conduct their own usability evaluations. The article is based on an empirical study where 36 teams with a total of 234 first-year university students on software development and design educations were trained through an introductory course in user-based website usability testing that was taught in 40 h. They used the techniques from this course for planning, conducting, and interpreting the results of a usability evaluation of an interactive website. They gained good competence in conducting the evaluation, defining user tasks and producing a usability report, while they were less successful in acquiring skills for identifying and describing usability problems.     

Usability Principles for Augmented Reality Applications in a Smartphone Environment

Through the rapid spread of smartphones, users have access to many types of applications similar to those on desktop computer systems. Smartphone applications using augmented reality (AR) technology make use of users' location information. As AR applications will require new evaluation methods, improved usability and user convenience should be developed. The purpose of the current study is to develop usability principles for the development and evaluation of smartphone applications using AR technology. We develop usability principles for smartphone AR applications by analyzing existing research about heuristic evaluation methods, design principles for AR systems, guidelines for handheld mobile device interfaces, and usability principles for the tangible user interface. We conducted a heuristic evaluation for three popularly used smartphone AR applications to identify usability problems. We suggested new design guidelines to solve the identified problems. Then, we developed an improved AR application prototype of an Android-based smartphone, which later was conducted a usability testing to validate the effects of usability principles.     

Towards satisfying practitioners in using Planning Support Systems

Several Planning Support Systems (PSS) have been developed so far, but their uptake in planning practice remains low. The analysis of the literature shows that one major factors for the limited use of PSS is the mismatch between PSS functionality (as well as the way it is provided through the PSS user interface) and what planners expect. This motivated a deeper research with the objective to analyse the factors preventing a wider use of PSS. In particular, this paper focuses on the usability of PSS. It reports an evaluation study performed to investigate the usability of PSS for some specific tasks: planners were involved in testing the land suitability analysis module of three PSS. The study results confirmed the mismatch between what PSS provide and what planners expect, as well as indicated a poor usability of PSS. Indications for improving the design of PSS that satisfy needs and desires of practitioners are provided.     

Breaking away from the conventional ‘usability lab’: the Customer-Centered Design Group at Tektronix,Inc.

Abstract

The conventional usability lab is primarily responsible for testing prototypes and products to determine if customers will accept a new design. Often this testing comes too late in the development cycle to allow major design or product changes to occur. In the Customer-Centered Design Group at Tektronix Labs, the usability lab is a small part of our group's involvement in the entire design life cycle of a Tektronix product. We work with design groups to bring the benefits of a usability lab to all phases of design, beginning with understanding our customer's current system and work processes to assessing the competitor's strengths and weaknesses to simulating and evaluating design alternatives. Our ‘lab’ is often on the road; meeting with customers where they work, working with design teams to simulate and prototype designs, and evaluating designs with our customers. To keep in touch with customers and to keep product development focused, we feel a usability group must break down the barriers inherent in a conventional testing suite. By breaking these barriers we can better determine what customers need and how these needs are addressed throughout the entire product life cycle.     

基于Web的中学选课系统的设计与实现

在对某中学手工选课过程分析的基础上，使用UML可视化建模技术对基于Web的中学选课系统进行了分析与设计，同时介绍了系统的实现与测试，并在试运行的基础上对系统的进一步完善提出了改进方案。     

Interactive visualization of dependencies

We present an interactive tool for browsing course requisites as a case study of dependency visualization. This tool uses multiple interactive visualizations to allow the user to explore the dependencies between courses. A usability study revealed that the proposed browser provides significant advantages over traditional methods, in terms of learnability, efficiency and user confidence. The results are discussed within a general framework for interactive visualization of dependencies.     

关于软件测试的几点思考

近些年来,软件测试越来越受到产业界、教育界和学术界的重视。结合作者在软件测试领域的教学和科研积累,对软件测试从课程、职业和科学三个层面进行思考,分别探讨了软件测试作为一门课程时,它的知识体的构成;作为一个职业时,它的职业技能和素养所包括的内容;作为一门科学时,它的主要科学问题有哪些。