The main aim of this thesis project is to select and redesign a website which was originally designed without using the HCI design principles. The website “Atari best electronics” (https://www.best-electronics-ca.com/) was chosen and evaluated using usability heuristics. After finding the flaws in the website, it is redesigned using the HCI design principles using Google sites. The redesigned website is then surveyed using the System Usability Scale (SUS). The results of the survey are presented in the report. Background: The UI/UX of any website increases drastically if the website is designed with the HCI principles in mind. Most of the websites do not follow the design principles. This affects the reach and usage of the website. The users using these websites are very quick to quit. The websites can be designed/redesigned using the HCI designed principles and increase the user experience.  Objectives: The objective of this project is to evaluate the chosen website and redesign it by using HCI design principles and conduct survey to understand the user’s perspective on the redesigned website. Methods: This project uses two methods in order to get results and solution of the proposed research questions. The heuristic evaluation method helps us find the flaws in the website and lets us redesign the website using HCI design principles. The survey evaluation method helps us understand the user’s perspective on the redesigned website. Results: The website is redesigned using the HCI design principles and a survey questionnaire is shared, and the responses are collected, and the results are represented in the form of bar graphs. Based on the results of the survey, we find out whether or not the users liked using the redesigned website. Conclusion: Using HCI principles in designing/redesigning a website increases the usability of the website. After analyzing the survey, we understand that the user experience is greatly affected when a website is designed using HCI design principles.

The involvement of carers in oncology is important for the health of people diagnosed with cancer as well as carers themselves. To improve their involvement, three groups; patients, their carers, and  clinicians should maintain good communication. The e-learning interface, eTRIO, has a learning module for each of these three groups. The design of eTRIO is based on research from psycho- oncologists. This study aims to answer the question; What are the strengths and weaknesses of the eTRIO interfaces for clinicians, carers, and patients in terms of their usability? Heuristic evaluation and think-alouds have been conducted to answer this. The results of this study show that interactive activities, as well as neatly presented content, are engaging the user, buttons and content should have clear purposes. The eTRIO interface will enhance carers' involvement with good usability, making it easy for users to retain important information. Strengths and areas for improvement will be presented in this study. / Inkludera cancerpatienters närstående i onkologi är viktigt för både cancerpatienter och deras närstående. För att förbättra de närståendes inkludering måste tre grupper; patienter, deras närstående och läkare ha god kommunikation mellan varandra. E-lärande platformen, eTRIO, har en modul för varje ovannämnd grupp. Designen av eTRIO är baserad på forskning av psyko-onkologer. Denna studie har som syfte att besvara frågan; Vad är eTRIOs gränssnitts styrkor och svagheter för läkare, cancerpatienter och närstående med avseende på användarvänlighet? En heuristisk utvärdering och think-alouds har gjorts för att svara på denna fråga. Resultaten av denna studie visar att interaktiva aktiviteter och visuellt tilltalande presenterat innehåll engagerar användarna samt att knappar och innehåll behöver tydliga syften. Gränssnitten av eTRIO kommer att förbättra närståendes inkludering med bra användarvänlighet och gör det lätt för användare att komma ihåg viktig information. Styrkor och områden för förbättring kommer att presenteras i denna studie.

The digital world offers endless possibilities. New technology is constantly released, and different ways to interact with and use systems are often introduced. Even though the usefulness of digital systems can be high, the constant ongoing release of new technology forces users to keep up. To be able to participate in the world of digital technology, a user must possess the necessary understanding of how to use and interact with the technology in question. This project addresses the topic of digital accessibility, with focus on elderly. Defined accessibility concepts are gathered through a literature study and used in the process of developing two new prototypes of the web application Klimatkollen. The prototypes are then evaluated, partially through a Think Aloud process where users over 60 years old rate the difficulty of performing specified tasks in the prototypes. Due to deviations in the test process, it is not possible to conclude if the accessibility concepts used in this project have any effect on the usage of a system. However, the literature study, and the concepts gathered can be used as a starting point for future research.

This thesis addressed the following research activities: (1) Developing and evaluating the usability of an adult age-independent online assessment tool that includes health care related content and is centered on the needs and capabilities of both older and younger users and, (2) Developing adult age-independent design guidelines. An online tool, which was developed for a previous study, was revised according to the results of the previous study and preliminary development activities based upon the user requirements of older adults (50 years or older). The online assessment tool was also tested with younger adults (between 18 and 35 years of age) to determine the differences between younger and older adults. Subsequent to these activities, a final tool that captured the needs of both older and younger adults was developed and evaluated for usability. According to the usability testing results, a design guideline set for an adult age-independent Online Needs Assessment Tool was developed and revisions were conducted in order to develop the final Online Needs Assessment Tool. The results of these studies, along with the tools developed, provide online survey and interface designers information on older and younger adult user requirements. They provide a knowledge resource for older and younger user healthcare information needs and information about the usability of one online assessment tool to accommodate both older and younger adult users. They also assist interface designers to proliferate and to facilitate more rapid application development / Master of Science

Availability of internet to a wide audiences has revolutionized how business is performed. Businesses now use e-commerce to trade products and services. The growth of e-commerce has been dramatically rapid among developed countries. Therefore, the adoption of e-commerce platforms is studied in these countries. Meanwhile less attentions has been given to developing countries. Developing countries can take advantage of lessons learned in the developed countries. One of the major success factors of e-commerce platforms in developed countries is improving the usability of e-commerce platform by considering user’s preferences. User preferences can be defined as feelings and attitudes of users for the interface and functional design of the ecommerce platform. This influences user’s decision and behavior. Considering the users preferences within an e-commerce platform enhances user’s satisfaction and increases user’s loyalty to the platform. To evaluate the user preferences a selection of usability factors are usually studied. Avicenna Research Institute (ARI) is currently considering the development of an e-commerce platform. For this ARI is investigating ways to consider users preferences in the design. This study aims to satisfy this goal. In this study previous research are analyzed, user’s preferences are identified, common used e-commerce platforms are investigated, and ARI’s perspective is included in the analysis. Using these information a set of recommendations on how to improve the usability of an e-commerce platform is given. For this task based approaches are used in form of participatory heuristic evaluation and observations. Interview is used to obtain ARI’s perspective on usability. The study has identified ten usability factors affecting the usability of the e-commerce platform based on user’s preferences. These include consistency, learnability, navigability, simplicity, readability, content relevance, supportability, interactivity, credibility, and telepresence. In addition a set of eighty evaluation criteria are presented to evaluate these factors. Using a qualitative approach, the study has analyzed all these factors in a multiple-case study. The analysis includes input from the users in form of observations, comments and questionnaire. This is combined with input from ARI in form of interviews. Finally the study concludes by providing a path for future research.

Do ponto de vista do usuário, a interface é uma das partes mais importantes dos sistemas computacionais, porque por meio dela o usuário vê, ouve e sente. Essa relevância motiva pesquisadores da área de Interação Humano-Computador a estudarem maneiras de se criarem interfaces com design focado em usabilidade. A avaliação da usabilidade de interfaces visa verificar se elas atendem aos requisitos do usuário de forma que as funcionalidades do sistema sejam realizadas de modo efetivo, eficiente e que satisfaça as expectativas do usuário. Tendo em vista que o ciclo de desenvolvimento de software costuma ser longo, avaliações da usabilidade de diferentes versões de interfaces devem ser realizadas no decorrer do processo, como forma de minimizar erros e reduzir custos de produção do sistema. Uma das avaliações de usabilidade mais conhecidas é a avaliação heurística, criada por Jacob Nielsen, que se destaca pelo baixo custo e rapidez de aplicação. Nela, especialistas avaliam as interfaces e os diálogos do sistema com base em um conjunto de regras gerais, as heurísticas, que lhes permitem identificar problemas de usabilidade. Apesar de respeitadas e amplamente usadas, as heurísticas de Nielsen foram criadas sem foco em interfaces de dispositivos móveis, muito difundidos atualmente. Por meio deste trabalho, verificou-se que as heurísticas de Nielsen têm limitações para encontrarem problemas de usabilidade em interfaces de dispositivos móveis. Por conta disso, propôs-se um conjunto de heurísticas para avaliação de interfaces de dispositivos móveis e se definiu um conjunto de diretrizes para o desenvolvimento dessas interfaces. A validação das heurísticas propostas indicou que elas foram mais efetivas que as de Nielsen para encontrarem problemas de usabilidade considerados pelos especialistas como catastróficos ou de baixa gravidade / From the users point of view, the interface is one the most important part of computer systems, because everything he sees, hears and feels are contained therein. This relevance motivates researchers of Human-Computer Interaction to study ways to create interfaces with design focused on usability. The usability evaluation of interfaces aims to determine whether the interfaces meet the requirements of the system so that its functionalities are carried out effectively, efficiently and satisfying the users expectations. Considering that the software development lifecycle is often long, usability evaluations of different versions of interfaces should be made during the process, in order to minimize errors and reduce production costs of the final system. Heuristic evaluation, created by Jacob Nielsen, is one of the most used usability evaluation methods, because of it low cost and ease of implementation. In this evaluation method, experts evaluate interfaces and systems dialogues based on a set of general rules, called heuristics, which enable them to identify usability problems. Although respected and widely used, Nielsens heuristics were not created having mobile devices interfaces in mind. Through this work, it was verified that Nielsens heuristics have limitations in finding usability problems in mobile devices interfaces. Because of this, we proposed a set of heuristics for evaluating interfaces for mobile devices and defined a set of guidelines for the development of these interfaces. The validation of the proposed heuristics indicated that they were more effective than Nielsens to find usability problems considered by experts as catastrophic or of low gravity

Heuristic Evaluation (HE) is a popular method of usability inspection. However, its outcomes are dependent on the expertise of evaluators. This study explored and described the difference in quality of outcomes (reports) of a collaborative HE conducted by evaluator groups of distinct composition, regarding different numbers of expert evaluators in each group. Twenty-seven (27) evaluators voluntarily contributed with this study, nine (9) expert and 18 novice evaluators. Thus, I organized seven (7) HE groups according to four (4) different levels of the factor presence of an expert, which ranged from no expert up to three (3) experts in the same group. Each group agreed to provide their reports for this study. Thereafter, I conducted a comparative analysis on the reports based on standard methods of the field and on a cluster analysis of similarities. I described the F-measure for each group report according to a relaxed and a strict criteria. Also, I described the dendrograms formed from the cluster analysis and the respective similarities indicated by each cluster. The results showed that the quality of reports from collaborative HE conducted by experts and novices together can be more similar to the quality of reports from a traditional HE with multiple expert inspectors (Benchmark Group) then to the quality of reports from a collaborative HE conducted by a group composed only by novice evaluators (Baseline Group). Finally, I discuss additional findings and implications for future studies in the field. / A Avaliação Heurística (AH) é um método popular de inspeção de usabilidade. Entretanto, seus resultados são dependentes da experiência dos avaliadores. Este estudo explorou e descreveu a diferença na qualidade de resultados (relatórios) de AH colaborativa conduzida por grupos de avaliadores de composição distinta, considerando diferentes quantidades de avaliadores experientes em cada grupo. Vinte e sete (27) avaliadores contribuíram voluntariamente com este estudo, nove (9) experientes e 18 novatos. Assim, foram organizados sete (7) grupos de AH, de acordo com quatro (4) níveis diferentes do fator presença de avaliador experiente, variando de nenhum experiente até três (3) avaliadores experientes no mesmo grupo. Cada grupo de avaliadores concordou em entregar seus relatórios de AH para este estudo. A partir de tais relatórios, foi conduzida uma análise comparativa baseada em métodos específicos da área, e também baseado em uma análise de agrupamento com base em medidas de similaridade. Como resultado, descreveu-se as medidas F (F-measure) referentes ao relatório de cada grupo respeitando critérios estritos e relaxados de comparação. Além disto, foram descritos os dendrogramas resultados das análises de agrupamento. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade de relatórios de AH colaborativas conduzidas por avaliadores experientes e novatos juntos pode ser mais similar à qualidade de relatórios de AH tradicional conduzida por múltiplos avaliadores experientes (Grupo Benchmark) do que à qualidade de relatórios de AH colaborativa conduzida por grupos formados apenas por avaliadores novatos (Grupo Baseline). Finalmente, discutiu-se resultados adicionais e implicações para pesquisas futuras na área.

Web developers are confronted with evaluating the usability of Web interfaces. Automatic Web usability evaluation tools are available, but they are limited in the types of problems they can handle. Tool support for manual usability evaluation is needed. Accordingly, this research focuses on developing a tool for supporting manual processes in Heuristic Evaluation inspection. The research was conveyed in three phases. First, an observational study was conducted in order to characterize the inspection process in Heuristic Evaluation. The videos of evaluators applying a Heuristic Evaluation on a non-interactive, paper-based Web interface were analyzed to dissect the inspection process. Second, based on the study, a tool for annotating Web interfaces when applying Heuristic Evaluations was developed. Finally, a survey is conducted to evaluate the tool and learn the role of annotations in inspection. Recommendations for improving the use of annotations in problem reporting are outlined. Overall, users were satisfied with the tool. The goal of this research, designing and developing an inspection tool, is achieved.

<p>Tools development is a sometimes overlooked process that is crucial for developing high quality games. The experience of the users will vary which makes usability an important issue as well as having good guidelines for communications and development of user interfaces. This report presents the development process of two different tools used in production of high-quality projects at Avalanche Studios and describes both the added functionality as well as the methods used to provide them.</p> / <p>Programmering av verktyg är en process som ofta är förbisedd men som är mycket viktig för utvecklingen av hög-kvalitativa spel. Den varierande kunskapsnivån hos användare gör att det är viktigt att fokusera på användarbarheten samt även ha bra riktlinjer för kommunikationer och utvecklingen av användargränssnitt. Den här rapporten presenterar hela utvecklingsprocessen av två olika verktyg som används vid utveckling av högkvalitativa projekt vid Avalanche Studios, och går igenom både ny funktionalitet samt även använda metoder för att uppnå detta.</p>

ABSTRACT A USABILITY EVALUATION FRAMEWORK AND A CASE STUDY ON A SUPPLIER PORTAL SYSTEM Babayigit, Elif Fatma M.Sc., Department of Industrial Engineering Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tayyar Sen December 2003, 229 pages The goal of this thesis is to provide a usability evaluation framework in the area of e-procurement technologies and a case study on this base. A survey of the concepts of human computer interaction, usability and usability evaluation techniques is carried out. Additionally current e-procurement technologies are explored and specifically a Company&rsquo / s Supplier Portal System which was employed in year 2003, as an e-procurement technology for the procurement of direct goods, is taken into consideration. Pointing from the findings of the survey, a usability evaluation methodology is developed based on user and task analysis of the Supplier Portal. Within this methodology, in terms of performance metrics of the Supplier Portal, usability attributes to be measured are determined and a checklist for a heuristic system evaluation is developed. iv While a laboratory testing structure is proposed for the case, a usability satisfaction survey and empirical usability tests are implemented with the actual users of the Company Supplier Portal. Descriptive and inferential formal analyses of the survey and field test results are studied, contributing to the Usability Evaluation of the Portal. Lastly further prospects are pointed, where usability, formal analysis, supply chain management and systems design intercept.