Abstract

 
 
 Usability is one of the most important software quality attributes regarding its acceptability by end users. It is even more important in the context of Web applications. One way of evaluating application usability is through inspections. The WDP (Web Design Perspectives- based Usability Inspection Technique) presents evidence of industrial use feasibility; however some computerized support had been suggested by practitioners. Therefore, the WDP Tool was built, aiming to provide automated support the WDP technique application, reducing the effort involved in usability inspections with WDP. This paper presents two observational studies regarding the use of the WDP Tool use, one in vivo and one in vitro, which aimed to analyze the cost-effectiveness of its application and its appropriateness to the industrial environment through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The results provide indications about the feasibility of using the WDP Tool to support usability inspections in real software development projects in the industry.
 
 
Highlights
Usability is one of the software quality attributes
The most commonly adopted methods for the detection of usability problems can be divided into two main categories: (1) Usability Inspections, in which inspectors examine some application aspects in order to identify violations of established usability principles; and (2) Usability Testing, which are evaluation methods that depend on the direct participation of users, such as: Laboratory studies, Think Aloud, and Cooperative Evaluation [2]
The second one was conducted in vivo, in a Brazilian brokerage firm. Both studies aim to characterize the efficiency of the WDP Tool and evaluate its feasibility when used in real software development projects
Summary
Usability is one of the software quality attributes. The ISO/IEC 9126 [11] standard defines usability as ‘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’. Empirical studies on the WDP technique allowed the identification of the main difficulties inspectors faced when using the technique, such as: (1) the effort needed for a detailed description of detected usability defects; and (2) the fact that it was necessary to change the focus of attention, going from the evaluated application to the written description of WDP technique, and the evaluation report Such issues motivated the development of tools to support the application of the WDP technique. The second one was conducted in vivo, in a Brazilian brokerage firm Both studies aim to characterize the efficiency of the WDP Tool and evaluate its feasibility when used in real software development projects.
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