Techreport,
THESEUS CTC-WP4 Usability Guidelines for Use Case Applications
Technical Report, volume 1. DFKI, BMWi, (April 2010)
Abstract
Usability Guidelines for Use Case Applications serves as an introduction to thegeneral topic of usability, i.e., how user-friendly and efficient a THESEUS prototypeis. In these guidelines, we emphasize the importance of usability testing,particularly during the development of a given THESEUS prototype. We discuss themany advantages of testing prototypes and products in terms of costs, productquality, and customer satisfaction. Usability testing can improve developmentproductivity through more efficient design and fewer code revisions. It can help toeliminate over-design by emphasizing the functionality required to meet the needsof real users. Design problems can be detected earlier in the development process,saving both time and money. In these Guidelines we provide a brief overview oftesting options, ranging from a cognitive walkthrough to interviews to eyetracking. Different techniques are used at different stages of a product'sdevelopment. While many techniques can be applied, no single technique alone canensure the usability of prototypes. Usability is a process with iterative steps,meaning the cycle is repeated but in a cumulative fashion, similar to softwaredevelopment.In order to test, a prototype must be available and we devote some time in theGuidelines to an overview of different tools and ways to build the necessaryprototypes. We also describe some options such as paper prototyping, prototypesfrom Visio, PowerPoint, HTML, Flash and others, and working prototypes (Java,C++, etc.) before addressing the actual tests. Before any testing is conducted, thepurpose of the test should be clarified. This will have considerable impact on thekind of testing to be done. A test plan should also be written before the start of thetest which considers several different aspects including, for instance, the durationof the test, where it will take place, or who the experimenter will be. A pilot test isalso recommended to avoid misunderstandings and other problems during theactual test. In this context, the Guidelines also discuss other important aspects suchas budget, room set-up, time, and limitations of the experimenter and test subjectsthemselves.To provide an overview of some of the projects THESEUS is concerned with in thecontext of usability, we supply explicit recommendations that result in proposedscenarios for use cases in the Guidelines. The THESEUS program consists of six usecases: ALEXANDRIA, CONTENTUS, MEDICO, ORDO, PROCESSUS, and TEXO. Inorder to come up with the different testing scenarios, each of which has specificdesign and testing recommendations, we first extracted some substantialinformation from the different use cases in different user settings: we discernedbetween those who will use the system, where they will use the system, and whatthey will do with the system. After considering the results, we determined that theTHESEUS program works with seven different scenarios. We provide a decisiontree that leads to specific recommendations for designing and testing withprototypes for each of the different scenarios and user settings. Generalrecommendations concerning various input methods, the design, and the testingitself have also been included in the Guidelines. Following that, we emphasize whatwe find important for the design and testing of each of the seven testing scenarios.We address, for instance, the appropriate input method (keyboard, mouse, speech,etc.), according to the type of test subject (e.g., administrator or mobile user), oralso which prototype could be used for the usability test.We will also challenge the usability of traditional usability guidelines. Oftentimes,guideline descriptions and explanations are unsatisfactory, remaining vague andambiguous in explanation The Guidelines close with an extensive list ofrecommended further information sources.
