For example, software instructs the hardware how to print a document, take input from the user, and display the output. Some think of usability as the software specialization of the larger topic of ergonomics. Metrics come in very handy when it comes to quantify usability during the usability evaluation of software, websites and applications. For software and physical products, the improvements are typically smaller but still substantial when you. The usability of a product is contextual and depends on the different roles of users, environments and tasks they need to do. And because there is so much data and variables that are completely out of control, usability metrics represent a great approach to compromise and combine these data, in a quantitative and qualitative way, and help you understand what you are doing against your systems objectives and goals to finally provide a better user experience. Pdf usability metrics for software components semantic. From a user persepctive there are several characteristics that are. A software metric is a measure of software characteristics which are quantifiable or countable. Characteristics and metrics software engineering cs donald j. Record any unintended action, slip, mistake or omission a user makes while attempting a task. The quality in use integrated map quim is proposed for. The more complex your product is the more usability testing you need to do.
The process followed for identifying the appropriate component attributes, how the measures assess the different quality subcharacteristics of usability, and the. In this paper we thus present a set of measures to assess the usability of software components. In fact, as long as you answer these five usability components first discussed by jakob nielsen, then youve taken your first steps to having a functional product and the world will rejoice for it. There isnt a usability thermometer to tell you how usable your software or website is. Software quality is a judgment about the value of software from a particular perspective. Instead we rely on the impact of good and bad usability to assess the quality of the user experience. Unlike conventional software acceptance testing, usability evaluation involves watching real people use a product or prototype, and using what is learned to improve the product. Measuring the usability of software components sciencedirect. Jan 20, 2001 although measuring usability can cost four times as much as conducting qualitative studies which often generate better insight, metrics are sometimes worth the expense. This is the article to give to your boss or anyone else who doesnt have much time, but needs to know the basic usability facts. Usability is a contextdependent qualitative feature that is measured by multiple quality components that can be related to users characteristics. It is also important to note that the presence or absence of these functions in a software product can be verified as either existing or not, in that it is a boolean either a yes or no answer. The software which we are making should meet all the specifications stated by the customer. Software functional quality is defined as conformance to explicitly stated functional requirements, identified for example using voice of the customer analysis part of the design for six sigma toolkit and or documented through use cases and the level of satisfaction experienced by endusers.
The definition of usability is sometimes reduced to easy to use, but this oversimplifies the problem and provides little guidance for the user interface designer. Usability metrics a guide to quantify the usability of any. Usability metrics quantify the usability of a system in terms of the effectiveness, efficiency. Often they may not be at all relevant to what youre doing or the best use of your time. The story of usability is a perverse journey from simplicity to complexity. Usability describes the quality of user experience across websites, software, products, and environments. There are many characteristics and sub characteristics for software component reusability available today. How shall i obtain the components needed to calculate it. Software technology and engineering practice, 1997. Usability measures for software components ieee journals. Software metrics usability and evaluation of software. There are many reasons why you would measure usability.
Usability is inherent to software quality because it expresses the relationship between the software and its application domain. The purpose of the plan is to document what you are going to do, how you are going to conduct the test, what metrics you are going to capture, number of participants you are going to test, and what scenarios you will use. Citeseerx measuring the usability of software components. Software quality characteristics computing science. Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. Measuring the usability of software components journal. Similarly, models consisting of 12 to 15 factors, were suggested by deutsch and willis 1988 and by evans and marciniak 1987. So lets take a step back to explore not the choice of which metrics to track, nor even how to track them and analyze them, but instead, what are the characteristics of a good metric. A metric is a system or standard of measurement represented in units that can be utilized to describe more than one attribute. An overview of objectoriented design metrics harrison, r counsell, s nithi, r. A test plan is a document describing software testing scope and activities.
The classic model of software quality factors, suggested by mccall, consists of 11 factors mccall et al. Planning a usability test one of the first steps in each round of usability testing is to develop a plan for the test. Creating performance metrics is as much art as science. Usability relies on userfeedback through evaluation rather than simply trusting the experience and expertise of the designer. It is a combination of characteristics oriented to the user, which are easiness of learning, high speed of user task performance, low user. Users should find it easy and become proficient when using a design interface. Web usability has several definitions and characteristics. Cbsd is the software development with the assembly of existing software components. These are functionality based factors and related to exterior quality of software.
Software is defined as collection of computer programs, procedures, rules and data. Software quality is often decomposed into individual quality characteristics. Measuring the usability of software components journal of. It is the basis for formally testing any software product in a project. The need to select a component among a set of possible candidates that offer similar functionality opens the need to count with objective methods that help developers in this difficult task.
Measuring usability is a key skill that developers can learn to create websites that deliver results. Empirical evaluation of metrics to assess software product. Determining characteristics of the software components. We do not know of any standards or regulations for component usability yet, and thus we will not consider this subcharacteristic.
Before presenting the metrics, we will define the basic concepts on software. Web site usability, design, and performance metrics as the web became an increasingly essential inter face, usability research began to focus more specifically on extending the basic usability principles into the web environment nielsen 2000, shneidermann 1998. What are the characteristics of software in software engineering characteristics of software there are some software characteristics like reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability. First and foremost, a software product must meet all the. Within your analytics tools are a lot of measurements for ux, but theyre often overlooked. It also instructs the computer what needs to be done to perform a specific task and how it is to be done. Software metrics have proved to reflect the software quality, and thus they have been widely used in software quality evaluation techniques 6 7. Around 50% more people report collecting task time data in summative tests. Usability metrics a guide to quantify the usability of any system.
Pdf usability metrics for software components semantic scholar. May 23, 2012 the story of usability is a perverse journey from simplicity to complexity. In this position paper we present a collection of software component metrics focused on a main quality characteristicthe usabilityof great importance to any software product. Pdf usability metrics for software components researchgate. Thus, usability is the aspect of website application that the user interacts and gain firsthand interaction with computers 20. Measuring the usability of software components citeseerx. Thats right, from simplicity to complexitynot the other way around. All the systems in the product line have commonalities and variability. Usability, universality and usefulness are expected outcomes of the hci in technology 24.
While developing any kind of software product, the first question in any developers mind is, what are the qualities that a good software should have. This paper presents a set of measures to assess the usability of software components, and describes the method followed to obtain and validate them. Software engineering software characteristics geeksforgeeks. To guide you in your quest, here are 12 characteristics of effective performance metrics. Usability metrics can help a company outrun its competition. Software characteristics are classified into six major components. It comes under the heading of ux design, but is not the whole story of user experience design. Not many metrics fit all five of these characteristics, but they should meet as many as possible.
Sep 17, 2017 what are the characteristics of software in software engineering characteristics of software there are some software characteristics like reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability. Among other things, metrics can help managers track design progress and support decisions about when to release a product. Software metrics usability and evaluation of software quality. They based their study on the isoiec 9126 30 model that defines usability in terms of five sub. Software reliability is the probability of failurefree software operation for a specified period of time in a specified environment. There is no consensus about the relation of the terms ergonomics or human factors and usability. In this position paper we present a collection of software component metrics focused on a main quality characteristicthe usabilityof great importance to any. Tullis and albert, the authors of our text, measuring the user experience, dedicate the majority of their book to metrics from definition and types to use and measurement. A metric is commonly defined as a way of measuring or evaluating a particular phenomenon or thing p. However, there is currently a lack of quality models and metrics that can help evaluate the quality characteristics of software components during.
The word usability also refers to methods for improving easeofuse during the design process. Usability is the intersection between effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a context of use. The process followed for identifying the appropriate component attributes, how the measures assess the different quality subcharacteristics of. Yet amid all the discussion, there is, ironically, a lack of a systematic approach to metrics. Well before going into technical characteristics, i would like to state the obvious expectations one has from any software. Balance the various components of the goals and decide on their relative importance. If you expect a userfriendly introduction to usability and that the history of usability is full of welldefined concepts and lean methods, youre in for a surprise.
Usability metrics a guide to quantify the usability of. Usability refers to how easily a user interacts with a website or product. Jan 03, 2012 on average, this will more than double a websites desired quality metrics yielding an improvement score of 2. Software metrics usability and evaluation of software quality the results obtained from the software metrics can be used to indicate, which parts of software have to changed or modified.
In this tutorial well look at three metrics you can use to measure usability. Define the goals for the usability testing in terms of usability attribute e. The 5 characteristics of an effective business metric. If you like geeksforgeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute. Mar 15, 2010 usability metrics provide precise, quality measures that can be used to evaluate a system or product. One of the most important methods for evaluating information systems is usability evaluation. We define, in a consistent way, usability metrics for software components based on the iso 9126 quality model. Software controls, integrates, and manages the hardware components of a computer system. For software and physical products, the improvements are typically smaller but still substantial when you emphasize usability in the design process. In usability, we designers have to focus on three aspects in particular. Software functional quality is defined as conformance to explicitly stated functional requirements, identified for example using voice of the customer analysis part of the design for six sigma toolkit andor documented through use cases and the level of satisfaction experienced by endusers.
For general software, hardware and mobile devices consider the system usability scale sus, for websites use the suprq. It differs from hardware reliability in that it reflects the design perfection, rather than manufacturing perfection. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a software can be used by specified consumers to achieve quantified objectives with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a quantified. Software reliability is also an important factor affecting system reliability. On average, this will more than double a websites desired quality metrics yielding an improvement score of 2.
Furthermore, the list of characteristics should include abstract this paper examines current approaches to usability metrics and proposes new approach for quantifyinga software quality in use, based on modeling the dynamic relationships of the attributes that affect software usability. Several models of software quality factors and their categorization have been suggested over the years. Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. There is a lot of similarity in the type of metrics collected with the largest difference coming in the percent recording task time. Usability evaluation of a comprehensive national health. Such a method can be reused as a pattern for defining and validating measures for further quality characteristics. Measuring the usability of software components request pdf. Patterson content adapted from essentials of software engineering 3rd edition by tsui, karam, bernal jones and bartlett learning.
Web site usability, design, and performance metrics. Ignore these five components and the world will cry out in pain. Software quality metrics focus on the process, project and product. Usability evaluation of mobile applications using iso 9241.
Jan 20, 2011 robert cecil martins software package metrics. Here are 10 metrics you should be familiar with and ready to use in any usability evaluation. Its important to measure effectiveness relative to these and to make sure we have quantitative and qualitative data to help us collect information and compare against benchmarks. Nov 30, 2011 there isnt a usability thermometer to tell you how usable your software or website is. A document describing the scope, approach, resources and schedule of intended test activities. Here are 10 metrics you should be familiar with and ready to use in any usability. Various operational characteristics of software are. Quantify these usability issues by measurements such as those given below. According to iso 9126, the usability characteristic is defined as the capability of the software product to be understood, learned, used, and attractive for the user, when used under specified conditions iso 91262 2001. Before presenting the metrics, we will define the basic concepts on software measurement used in this paper, what we understand for usability in a cbsd framework, and the component information available to be measured. The graph below shows the difference in the types of metrics collected during both types of usability testing. By analyzing the metrics the organization the organization can take corrective action to fix those areas in the process, project or product which are the cause of the software defects. To create effective performance metrics, you must start at the end pointwith the goals, objectives or outcomes you want to achieveand then work backwards. It identifies amongst others test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks.
233 1082 226 240 1549 1578 451 719 219 116 429 1042 376 887 1178 96 903 1223 1188 1329 136 1549 1572 943 1108 165 1111 311 1024 1058 956 240 707 836 1497 496 1371 54 151 430