This thesis investigates in which way principles and theories of usability is revelant when evaluating interactive systems for children aged 10-12. It also investigates whether there are specific factors that you should keep in mind while developing interactive products for the targeted group.The results of the qualitative study shows that priciples and theories of usability is relevant when evaluating interactive systems for the targeted group. However there is one concept that is more significant than the others. Our study shows that our targeted group is sensitive to time-consuming activities such as loading times etc. which has to do with the efficiency of the system. In the analysis of our empirical data we distinguished four factors of importance when developing interactive products. The system should help the user in terms of navigation and information retrieval. The system should consider the users exploratory behaviour by avoiding too many focal points in informative systems. The system should, in a distictive manner, visualize loading times etc. as the targeted group may accuse the system for being disfuntional. The system should only let the user make sensible decisions. Otherwise annoyance and confusion may occur. / Denna C-uppsats undersöker på vilket sätt användbarhetsprinciper och teorier är relevanta vid utvärdering av interaktiva system med målgruppen barn 10-12 år. Den undersöker även om det finnsf aktorer som är viktiga att tänka på när man ska utveckla en interaktiv produkt för vår målgrupp. För att besvara dessa frågeställningar har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie med hjälp av observation och användartest. Studien visar på att användbarhetsprinciper och teorier som finns idag även kan användas för utvärdering av system för vår målgrupp men det finns begrepp och attribut som har mer relevans än andra. Effektivitet som är ett begrepp taget ur ursprungsdefinitionen av användbarhet är enligt vår studie det viktigaste begreppet, detta för att vår målgrupp är uppenbart känsliga för tidskrävande aktiviteter som t.ex. laddningstider. I analysen av vår studie uppmärksammade vi fyra faktorer som är viktiga att tänka på vid utveckling av interaktiva system för vår målgrupp. Dessa fyra är att: Systemet bör hjälpa användaren i navigation och informationssökning för att på så sätt minimera antalet fel. Systemet bör ta hänsyn till användarnas explorativa beteende genom att undvika för mångafokuspunkter i informativa system. Systemet bör vara visuellt tydligt med att visa laddningstider och dylikt då målgruppen annars kan beskylla systemet för att ej fungera. Systemet bör överlåta alla val till användaren. Så fort användaren upplever att ett val inte är medvetet så skapas irritation och förvirring.

Usability testing is a branch of usability engineering that focuses on analyzing and improving user interactions with computer systems. This testing technique has been used in different industries for years and has proven to be very useful in determining major issues with applications before they are released, however the use of this technique has been slow to gain widespread acceptance in testing health information systems. This study was designed to determine if a specific form of usability testing, Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing, can be introduced as a standard part of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) for health information systems in a cost effective manner. To determine if this was possible a full cost-benefit analysis of Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing was performed on a health information system, the BC Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Toolkit, tracking all of the costs involved in the testing process and comparing them against the possible costs that may have been incurred if this testing was not performed. It was found that by introducing this technique into the system development lifecycle to allow for earlier detection of errors in a health information system it is possible to achieve an estimated 36.5% to 78.5% cost saving compared to the impact of errors going undetected and causing a technology-induced error. Overall it was found that Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing can be implemented in conjunction with other testing techniques in a cost effective manner to develop health information systems, and computer systems in general, which will have a lower incidence of technology-induced errors. / Graduate

Usability is one of the most important aspects of Information Technology. Usability plays a vital role in this industry, where organizations thrive to ensure utmost satisfaction of their end-users in regard to the experience of using their product. The systems may be a website or a software application. To measure user satisfaction, the method of usability testing can be performed. Performing usability testing gives a clear picture of difficulties that would be faced by potential target users. There are different types of usability testing such as Task-based usability testing, open ended usability testing, remote usability testing etc. The important point here is about deciding upon the most appropriate type of testing technique to get the accurate user satisfaction level. This study is mainly focused to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between the task-based and open ended usability testing, in terms of measuring satisfaction? System Usability Scale (SUS) has been used to measure the satisfaction of the users in this study. For this we used two websites performing task-based usability testing and open ended usability testing respectively. This study had involved twenty eight different participants. Participants are divided into two groups, one group to perform open ended usability testing and another for task-based usability testing for both the websites. This study has produced following results; Open-ended testing tended to produce higher SUS-ratings for the tested system. The results in this study showed that users performing open-ended usability testing gave positive responses for both the websites in terms of user satisfaction. Open-ended usability testing is an exploratory testing, where the testing is based on different aspects such as user interface of the system, design etc. Task-based usability testing is goal based where users have to complete the given task without fail. This method drew lower scores when compared to open-ended usability testing for the tested systems from the attained results. Nevertheless that task-based testing attained lower SUS scores, it is fairly straight forward than open-ended testing to measure efficiency and effectiveness. The above results have been discussed in detail. This study has finally concluded that to measure the usability of a system it is recommended to practice both the open-ended and task-based usability testing techniques.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate two different methods used to test usability on web-sites to determine the advantages and disadvantages of two methods and compare the results. The two selected methods are the think aloud method and asynchronous remote method. Re-mote usability testing has existed for more than ten years but the possibilities with this meth-od needs to be explored more. To achieve the purpose of this thesis a case study was conducted on an e-commerce site and for the online remote usability testing software was used. The results of this study show that think aloud usability testing encounter more issues with the website than the remote usability testing.

This thesis aimed to investigate how moderated remote usability testing (RUT) tools can support the moderator's role and skills to create design principles for RUT tools. The study gathered knowledge of how to perform a RUT and the skills of a good moderator. This study resulted in a contextual inquiry with findings of what could support or obstruct the moderator according to the moderator's role and skills, opportunities and difficulties with RUT tools. The findings led to design principles of designing RUT tools to support the moderator's role and skills. The study resulted in usability, user and functional requirements with a prototype of a RUT tool to visualize how to use the design principles. / Denna studie syftade till att undersöka hur verktyg för modererade användbarhetstests på distans kan designas för att stödja moderatorns roll och färdigheter. Studien innefattar kunskap om hur man utför ett modererat användbarhetstest på distans och vilka färdigheter som krävs för att vara en bra moderator i sådana test. Studien innefattade en fältstudie som resulterade i funktioner i ett verktyg för användbarhetstester på distans som kan stödja eller hindra en moderators utförande med avseende på dess roll och färdigheter samt möjligheter och svårigheter i sådana verktyg. Designprinciper skapades i syfte att vägleda designen av verktyg för användbarhetstest på distans som stödjer moderatorns roll och färdigheter. Studien resulterade i användbarhets, användar- och funktionskrav som med designprinciperna visualiserades i en prototyp av ett verktyg för modererad användbarhetstest på distans.

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The current state of email security is lacking, and the need for end-to-end encryption of email is clear. Recent research has begun to make progress towards usable, secure email for the masses (i.e., novice users without IT support). In this paper, we evaluate the usability implications of three different key management approaches: PGP, IBE, and passwords. Our work is the first formal A/B evaluation of the usability of different key management schemes, and the largest formal evaluation of secure email ever performed. Our results reveal interesting inherent usability trade-offs for each approach to secure email. Furthermore, our research results in the first fully-implemented PGP-based secure email system that has been shown to be usable for novice users. We share qualitative feedback from participants that provides valuable insights into user attitudes regarding each key management approach and secure email generally. Finally, our work provides an important validation of methodology and design principles described in prior work.

The Agile software development model is driven by "learning by doing" and rejects Big Design Up Front (BDUF) for that reason. User-Centered Design (UCD) on the other hand requires a more holistic view to be able to create a usable user interface and in the end create a good user experience. Finding a balance between the incremental development and the need for a more comprehensive view of the user interface is therefore the key to usability in Agile software development. The objective of this master thesis was to construct a framework on how to combine UCD and Agile development in general, and specifically for the web based tool, called Alo, at the IS/IT department of Com Hem AB, Sweden. The results of this thesis was that the process of integrating User-Centered Design in Agile software development first of all needs a familiar starting point for both usability experts and developers. This can be achieved with what Desirée Sy describes as “Cycle Zero”, to let usability experts perform initial research ahead of implementation. Designing one sprint ahead should later converge to a more synchronized process where requirements and sketches of the interface are put together, with the help of developers, just in time for the implementation. This does not only prevents waste in the form of documentation and miscommunication associated with hand-offs, but also makes the implementation more purposeful and fun for developers.Secondly, build prototypes early in the process to create a holistic vision of the finished product and to test concepts in usability tests early. Thirdly, create shared understanding (within the development team as well as with outside stakeholders) of user needs by involving the entire team in usability testing. Critical to the success of all the above is that all outside stakeholders understands the Agile process and respects that the team is a self-organizing unit that solves problems within a set of given boundaries, rather than a code factory that feeds on specification documents.

The verbal protocol method is used extensively in computer usability studies. This study was designed to test the feasibility of using the verbal protocol method as a means of conducting field research on the online catalogue. Ten undergraduate students conducted their own research on DRA’s Infogate. As they searched, they talked aloud about what keys they were pressing, what was happening on the screen, and their reactions. Transcripts of sessions were analyzed. A total of 65 different problems or comments were noted during search sessions, with 11 problems or comments noted in three or more sessions. This supports the hypothesis that the verbal protocol method is a valuable means of identifying common problems for users. It is suggested that the verbal protocol method offers great potential as a research tool in librarianship, for example in the area of interface design.

On behalf of Inspectera HK AB in Norrköping a web-based drawing tool has been developed in Java, mainlywith the library Google Web Toolkit (GWT). The purpose of this tool is to facilitate both the staff's at Inspecteraand their client's work with different types of drawings such as blueprints for pest control, fire protection andespecially drawings of the company's e-service of self-checks. Besides developing the drawing tool usabilitytesting and a usability evaluation has been performed.