Key Usability Factors Research Articles

Low-Code and No-Code in Enterprise Development: Bridging the Gap Between IT and Business

Low-code development has emerged as a transformative concept in both academia and the software industry, often discussed alongside model-driven engineering and domain-specific languages. Usability plays a critical role in low- code contexts, given that many users lack programming expertise. While grey literature frequently praises the high usability of low-code tools, this paper systematically reviews academic and industry research to understand the relationship between low-code development and usability. Using a formal search protocol, 38 relevant studies were analyzed to identify key usability factors and how users perceive these tools. Despite growing interest, no formal definition of low-code has been universally adopted. This paper proposes a definition, highlights usability's role, and identifies further research avenues to strengthen the field of low-code development. Keywords Low-code, no-code, citizen development, IT democratization, business-IT collaboration, digital transformation, agile development, machine learning, usability, metadata-driven applications

Code search engines for the next generation

Given the abundance of software in open source repositories, code search engines are increasingly turning to “big data” technologies such as natural language processing and machine learning, to deliver more useful search results. However, like the syntax-based approaches traditionally used to analyze and compare code in the first generation of code search engines, big data technologies are essentially static analysis processes. When dynamic properties of software, such as run-time behavior (i.e., semantics) and performance, are among the search criteria, the exclusive use of static algorithms has a significant negative impact on the precision and recall of the search results as well as other key usability factors such as ranking quality. Therefore, to address these weaknesses and provide a more reliable and usable service, the next generation of code search engines needs to complement static code analysis techniques with equally large-scale, dynamic analysis techniques based on its execution and observation. In this paper we describe a new software platform specifically developed to achieve this by simplifying and largely automating the dynamic analysis (i.e., observation) of code at a large scale. We show how this platform can combine dynamically observed properties of code modules with static properties to improve the quality and usability of code search results.

Users’ perception of open source usability: an empirical study

The number of open source software (OSS) users has increased in recent years. No longer are they limited to technically adept software developers. Many believe that the OSS market share could increase tremendously provided OSS had systems that were easier to use. Although examples of good usable open source software exist, it is agreed that OSS can be made more usable. This study presents an empirical investigation into the impact of some key factors on OSS usability from the end users’ point of view. The research model studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from the users’ perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 102 OSS users from 13 open source projects of various sizes was used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence by indicating that the highlighted key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.

An Empirical Study of Open Source Software Usability

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the use of open source projects by common novice users; Open Source Software (OSS) is thus no longer a reserved arena for software developers and computer gurus. Although user-centered designs are gaining popularity in OSS, usability is still not considered one of the prime objectives in many design scenarios. This paper analyzes industry users’ perception of usability factors, including understandability, learnability, operability, and attractiveness on OSS usability. The research model of this empirical study establishes the relationship between the key usability factors and OSS usability from industrial perspective. In order to conduct the study, a data set of 105 industry users is included. The results of the empirical investigation indicate the significance of the key factors for OSS usability.

Improvement of Open Source Software Usability: An Empirical Evaluation from Developers' Perspective

User satisfaction has always been important for software success whether it is Open Source Software (OSS) or closed proprietary software. Even though we do not presume that OSS always has poor usability, as there are examples of good usable open source software, it would still be agreed that OSS usability has room for further improvement. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the impact of some key factors on OSS usability from developers' points of view. This is one of the series of four studies that we are conducting regarding improvement of OSS usability from OSS developers, users, contributors, and industry perspectives. The research model of this empirical investigation studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from developers' perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 106 OSS developers from 18 open source projects of varied size has been used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence that the studied key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.

Contributors Preference in Open Source Software Usability: An Empirical Study

The fact that the number of users of open source software (OSS) is practically un-limited and that ultimately the software quality is determined by end users experience, makes the usability an even more critical quality attribute than it is for proprietary software. With the sharp increase in use of open source projects by both individuals and organizations, the level of usability and related issues must be addressed more seriously. The research model of this empirical investigation studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from contributors perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 78 OSS contributors that includes architects, designers, developers, testers and users from 22 open source projects of varied size has been used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence by indicating that the highlighted key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.

Key usability factors of service‐oriented web sites for students: an empirical study

PurposeThis paper aims to report on a web usability study and to identify and prioritise key web interface usability factors (WIUFs) for web sites of 36 student‐related online services categorised into three groups: personal services, purchase services and study‐related web sites.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, involving 400 student internet users (SIUs), 12,310 data points were collected and analysed using a multiple linear regression test. Seven WIUFs were tested: use of colour and font (UCF), use of graphics and multimedia (UGM), clarity of goals in web site (CGW), trustworthiness of web site (TOW), interactivity of web site (IOW), ease of web navigation (EWN), and download speed of web site (DSOW).FindingsThe study results reveal that every online service category has a different set of crucial WIUFs. SIUs' web usability preferences were compared with those of general internet users.Research limitations/implicationsThe participants were all Malaysians; therefore, generalising the findings to all SIUs will require a confirmatory study with SIUs from other parts of the world.Practical implicationsWeb developers can use the results to design usable web sites for specific online service categories.Originality/valueThe research offers a simpler alternative to measure web usability and to determine which WIUFs are crucial for a specific online service category with consideration of the users' role. This study overcomes some weaknesses of previous studies, i.e. small sample size, no consideration of product‐task relationship, no specific customer group and cumbersome procedures.

Evaluation of Mobile Based Consumer Products: Key Usability Factors and Evaluation Framework

The importance of usability has been increasingly recognized due to the enlargement, convergence and complication of product functions. Usability is becoming a key factor in determining the success of a product, so that users can understand how to operate it and benefit from the functionality it offers. In this study, usability evaluation plan and procedures for mobile products are given, based on the usability evaluation framework of everyday products that is under debate currently in the Europe. Suggested framework can be used as a tool for enhancing the usability of mobile products from the initial product development stage to the product review stage

VRUSE—a computerised diagnostic tool: for usability evaluation of virtual/synthetic environment systems

A special questionnaire (VRUSE) has been designed to measure the usability of a VR system according to the attitude and perception of its users. Important aspects of VR systems were carefully derived to produce key usability factors for the questionnaire. Unlike questionnaires designed for generic interfaces VRUSE is specifically designed to cater for evaluating virtual environments, being a diagnostic tool providing a wealth of information about a user’s viewpoint of the interface. VRUSE can be used to great effect with other evaluation techniques to pinpoint problematical areas of a VR interface. Other applications include bench-marking of competitor VR systems.