Trafikverket har ansvar över den långsiktiga infrastrukturplaneringen samt drift av Sveriges vägar. En viktig faktor för säkerheten på våra vägar är vädret. Genom att kunna förutspå temperaturer och nederbörd längs vägar går det att minska risker i trafiken. Det finns mätstationer som mäter vägväder längs de vägar där det är störst risk för halka och snödrev. En mjukvara används för övervakning av väderstationerna och kvalitetskontroll av avvikelser i vägväderdatat. Trafikverket vill byta ut befintligt system för kvalitetskontroll mot ett mer användarvänligt system. I detta examensarbete skapades en prototyp till ett nytt användargränssnitt för kvalitetskontroll. Gränssnittet utvecklades i enlighet med aspekter för användbar webbdesign samt kriterier som togs fram i förstudien vid utvärdering av den befintliga kvalitetskontrollen. Det nya användargränssnittet visar avvikelser som geovisualiseringar och det utvecklades med mjukvarorna PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Geoserver, OpenLayers samt GeoExt. Användargränssnittets användbarhet utvärderades med en heuristisk utvärdering av målgruppen som det är designat för. Utvärderingen bestod av användartest samt frågeformulär. Resultatet från utvärderingen visade att deltagarnas nöjdhet med gränssnittets design varierade. Slutsatsen var att användargränssnittets användbarhet är godtagbar men att gränssnittet har förbättringspotential. / The Swedish Transport Administration is accountable for the long-term planning and management of the Swedish road infrastructure. An important factor for the safety on our roads is the weather. By predicting the weather it is possible to reduce the risk for accidents. There are stations that measure weather conditions along the roads with the greatest risk of slipperiness and snow drift. Monitoring of these weather station is executed with a  software for quality control of data deviations. The Swedish Transport Administration wants to replace the present interface for quality control with a more user-friendly system. In this thesis, a prototype for a new interface for quality control was created. The interface was developed in accordance with aspects for useful web design and criterias produced in the preliminary study which evaluated the present interface. The new interface displays data deviations as geovisualizations. The interface was developed by using the PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Geoserver, OpenLayers and GeoExt softwares. The usability of the interface was evaluated by the target audience it is designed for. The evaluation consisted of a heuristic evaluation with user tests and questionnaires. The outcome revealed that participants' satisfaction varied. The conclusion was that the usability of the interface is acceptable but that it has potential for improvement.

Denna rapport handlar om en användbarhetsutvärdering av synthesizern OP-1, utvecklad av företaget Teenage Engineering. Studien är kvalitativ och undersöker bara den omedelbara användarupplevelsen av produkten. Rapporten baseras på resultat från ett antal användbarhetstester, utförda på företaget i fråga. Användbarhetstesterna avser att undersöka hur en användare kan förstå hur OP-1:s kan användas och hur de kan förstår dess olika lägen och vidare på vilket sätt detta påverkar den initiala användarupplevelsen. Totalt nio av fjorton tillfrågade personer har ingått i användbarhetstesterna. Urvalsgruppen bestod av personer med tidigare, dock varierande mängd, erfarenhet av synthesizers. I den teoretiska referensramen förenas Jonas Löwgren och Erik Stoltermans brukskvalitetsteorier tillsammans med valda delar av Donald Normans ” Seven Stages of Actions as Design Aids”. Resultatet visar att användarna snabbt kommer igång med synthesizerns grundläggande funktioner. Samtliga användare tycker att OP-1 är estetiskt tilltalande, underhållande och uppskattar dess portabla format, med vilket de ser användningsområden i både resor och livesammanhang. Användarna anser också att de inte alltid måste förstå synthesizerns grafiska element, på display eller knappar, då detta tydliggörs efter användning av produkten. Användarna visar svårigheter med funktioner som pattern sequencer och viss redigering i tape. Vidare har de även ibland svårt att förstå i vilket mode som synthesizern befinner sig i. Samtliga användbarhetstester utfördes på en pre-betaversion av OP-1. Den slutgiltiga versionen av synthesizern har uppdaterats utefter resultaten från den här undersökningen. / This report is based on results given from usability testing of the synthesizer OP-1 developed by the company Teenage Engineering. The study has involved potential end users during the development process and aims only to look at the first experience the user gets from the interaction with the synthesizer. The meaning of the usability tests is to find out how the user can understand how to use OP-1, how intuitive the different modes are and how this affects the initial user experience. Nine people, out of a total amount of fourteen asked, participated in these usability tests. The selection of participants is based on their previous knowledge and experience of synthesizers. The theoretical frame of reference includes Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stoltermans theories of use qualities and are combined with chosen parts of Donald Normans ” Seven Stages of Actions as Design Aids”. The shown results indicate that the users quickly understand how to use the basic modes and features of the synthesizer. All of the participated users think OP-1 is entertaining, finds the design of OP-1 attractive and appriciates its portability, in which they see potential for both travelling and live performances. The users do not always fully understand the graphical elements but reckon that it is not always necessary to, neither in the display, nor on the buttons, since this clearifies after further usage. The users show some difficulties interacting with functions such as the pattern sequencer and some editing in tape mode. The users also sometimes show difficulties determining which mode the synthesizer is in. All of the usability tests were performed on a pre beta version of the OP-1. The final version of the synthesizer has been updated with changes influenced by the results of this report.

Ever since the late 1950's, context-free grammars have played an important role within the field of linguistics, been a part of introductory courses and expanded into other fields of study. Meanwhile, data visualization in modern web development has made it possible to do feature rich visualization in the browser. In this thesis, these two developments are united, by developing a browser based app, to write context-free grammars, parse sentences and visualize the output. A user experience study with usability-tests and user-interviews is conducted, in order to investigate the possible benefits and disadvantages of said visualization when writing context-free grammars. The results show that data visualization was limitedly used by participants, in that it helped them to see if sentences were parsed and, if a sentence was not parsed, at which position parsing went wrong. Future improvements on the software and studies on them are proposed as well as the expansion of the field of data visualization within linguistics. / Ända sedan det sena 1950-talet har kontextfria grammatiker spelat en viktig roll hos lingvistiska teorier, används i introduktionskurser och expanderats till andra forskningsfält. Samtidigt har datavisualisering inom modern webbutveckling gjort det möjligt att skapa innehållsrik visualisering i webbläsaren. I detta examensarbete förenas dessa två utvecklingar genom utvecklandet av en webbapplikation, gjord för att skriva kontextfria grammatiker, parsa meningar och visualisera utdatan. En användarbarhetsstudie utförs, bestående av användartest och användaintervjuer, för att undersöka möjliga fördelar och nackdelar av visualisering i skrivandet av kontextfria grammatiker. Resultaten visar att data visualisering användes på ett begränsat sätt av deltagarna, i den meningen att det hjälpte dem att se om satser kan parsas och, om en sats inte blir parsad, se på vilket stället parsning misslyckades. Framtida förbättringar av applikationen och studier av dem föreslås samt en utbyggnad av data visualisering inom lingvistik.

Visualizations, web technologies and mobile devices are subjects which are trending nowadays in the world of technology and many research projects are tackling different issues. The originality of the thesis is in the aspect of bringing all these mentioned subjects together and providing findings that will help web designers when implementing visualizations for mobile phones. The thesis explores the use of web technologies for the visualization of complex data for mobile devices, both looking at the technical state of the art and capabilities, and at the difference in information needs for users in a mobile usage context. The first part deals with an in-depth research of the existing projects that deal with similar issues, analyzing the official documentation of the technologies and the community of developers. The other part of the research is focused on providing insights on the required changes for adapting to the needs of mobile device users by doing a usability testing on a specific visualization. The results provide information valuable for adapting visualizations, such as font sizes, color combinations, animation complexity and data simplicity. The use case that is used for feeding the visualizations with data belongs to the domain of eco visualizations, in particular dealing with sustainable food consumption.

Viva la Diva är ett Svenskt makeup-varumärke som nyligen har lanserat sin nya webbplats. Denna webbplats har inte blivit testad på deras slutanvändare eller målgrupp. Genom att använda en heuristisk utvärdering och 12 Think aloud-tester har flera användbarhetsproblem upptäckts där designen behöver förbättringar. Senare i rapporten presenteras några förbättringsförslag om hur användarupplevelsen kan förbättras på webbplatsen, men också hur problemen som jag fann under utvärderingen och Think aloud-testerna kan lösas. Jag tillhandahåller också för Viva la Diva ett designförslag för en av deras sidor som inte är helt färdig i designen. Detta arbete ger insikt i hur man kan använda en heuristisk utvärdering och Think aloudtester för att upptäcka användbarhetsproblem på webbplatser. / Viva la Diva is a Swedish makeup-brand that has recently launched their new website. This website has not been tested with their end-users or target users. By using a heuristic evaluation and 12 Think aloud-tests several user problems have been discovered where the design needs improvements. Later in the article I present some suggestions on how to improve the user experience on the website, as well as fix the problems that I found during the evaluation and Think aloud-tests. I also provide Viva la Diva with a design suggestion for one of their pages that is not completely finished in the design. This work provides insights on how to use a heuristic evaluation and Think aloud-tests to discover usability problems on websites.

This study aimed to develop a help system for a communication app, identify usability issues regarding that help system and develop redesigns to improve it. The focus was to maximize perceived usefulness and minimize perceived annoyance of the help system. During the study two design proposals were developed and two user tests, which used low-fidelity prototypes. were performed to evaluate the design proposals. The first design proposal was evaluated in the first user test, thereafter an iteration of that design was developed based on the usability issues found in the user test. This iteration of the design was the second design proposal which were evaluated in the second user tests. Both design proposals and data from both user tests were analysed to- gether which resulted in seven recommendation that aimed to maximize perceived usefulness and minimize perceived annoyance when developing a help system for a communication app. Due to a lack of generalizability these recommendations should however be used with caution since they are mainly applicable to the system evaluated in this study. They can however be used as an inspi- ration and a starting point for someone designing a help system for an other communication app.

Fältet för användbarhetstestning är fullt av metoder, men av någon anledning är det en väldig brist på studier som jämför metoderna mot varandra och kontrollerar om dessa metoder, som utger sig för att generera samma typ av data, faktiskt är likvärdiga. Denna studie jämförde två användbarhetstestningsmetoder vid namn SUS och PSSUQ. Först jämfördes metodernas metamedelvärde med varandra för att se om det fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan metodernas rådata och sedan utökades analysen till att jämföra metodernas resultat med den normativa mall som respektive metod ger tillgång till. Dessa två olika jämförelser gjordes ett flertal gånger med olika antal försöksdeltagare vid varje iteration. Resultatet av studien visade att inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader fanns mellan metodernas metavärde (värden transformerade till en skala mellan 0 och 100) och att inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader hittades mellan dessa två mätinstrument då deras resultat jämfördes mot de normativa mallar som metoderna ger tillgång till, men även om inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader hittades visar resultatet på en viss skillnad i hur ett system uppfattas beroende på vilken metod som används, vilket innebär att liknande studier borde genomföras.

This dissertation reports on an exploratory study investigating the potential of recorded audio media (i.e. audiocassettes/CDs) as a method of health communication in South Africa. The investigation examines recorded audio media as an alternative to printed brochures. People need access to information in order to make informed decisions about their health. In South Africa, the high HIV/AIDS infection rate is a case in point. The literature review deals with the accessibility of information in terms of physical accessibility (whether the receiver can find, operate and use the communication medium); and semantic accessibility (whether the receiver understands the message disseminated via the medium). Through the review, it was discovered that, where necessary, information must then be repackaged from an inaccessible to an accessible and appropriate format. Factors like visual disabilities, low levels of literacy and low reading proficiency, can render printed information inaccessible. This study discusses and researches the feasibility of recorded audio media (audiocassettes/CDs) as an alternative to print-based brochures by means of a comparative literature review and empirical study. Selected HIV/AIDS brochures (developed by the Department of Health) and similar recorded audio messages were evaluated amongst the target audience in order to compare the comprehension of the messages, the accessibility and acceptability of both media forms. The study was conducted at four public health clinics, where individual structured interviews and focus group interviews were employed as data collection methods. The data was analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate the definite potential of the use of recorded audio media in health and HIV/AIDS communication, and should be explored further. The comprehension of the audio messages was better than that of the printed brochures indicating the semantic accessibility of the audio messages. The positive reaction of the research participants toward the recorded audio messages also indicates the acceptability of the medium. Incorporating audiocassettes into the media mix of HIV/AIDS and other development and/or health communication campaigns, will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the communication strategy. / Dissertation (MA (Development Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / unrestricted

This dissertation reports on an exploratory study investigating the potential of recorded audio media (i.e. audiocassettes/CDs) as a method of health communication in South Africa. The investigation examines recorded audio media as an alternative to printed brochures. People need access to information in order to make informed decisions about their health. In South Africa, the high HIV/AIDS infection rate is a case in point. The literature review deals with the accessibility of information in terms of physical accessibility (whether the receiver can find, operate and use the communication medium); and semantic accessibility (whether the receiver understands the message disseminated via the medium). Through the review, it was discovered that, where necessary, information must then be repackaged from an inaccessible to an accessible and appropriate format. Factors like visual disabilities, low levels of literacy and low reading proficiency, can render printed information inaccessible. This study discusses and researches the feasibility of recorded audio media (audiocassettes/CDs) as an alternative to print-based brochures by means of a comparative literature review and empirical study. Selected HIV/AIDS brochures (developed by the Department of Health) and similar recorded audio messages were evaluated amongst the target audience in order to compare the comprehension of the messages, the accessibility and acceptability of both media forms. The study was conducted at four public health clinics, where individual structured interviews and focus group interviews were employed as data collection methods. The data was analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate the definite potential of the use of recorded audio media in health and HIV/AIDS communication, and should be explored further. The comprehension of the audio messages was better than that of the printed brochures indicating the semantic accessibility of the audio messages. The positive reaction of the research participants toward the recorded audio messages also indicates the acceptability of the medium. Incorporating audiocassettes into the media mix of HIV/AIDS and other development and/or health communication campaigns, will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the communication strategy. / Dissertation (MA (Development Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Information Science / MA / unrestricted

This thesis deals with The Royal Mint and it's online strategy. Using web analytics tools and usability testing it analyzes a current state of website and e-shop of the company. From the obtained figures about visits of the website, keywords, conversion rate, traffic sources and others, the customers' behavior is analyzed and subsequent conversion rate and user friendliness-raising measures are evaluated. The thesis summarizes recommendations resulting from the carried analyses in order to increase the online sales, bring new customers online and increase the loyalty of the existing ones.