An analysis of formally published usability and Web usability definitions

✍ Scribed by Yu-Hui Chen; Carol Anne Germain; Abebe Rorissa

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 437 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0044-7870
• DOI: 10.1002/meet.2009.1450460213

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Usability in general and web usability in particular are complex concepts with multiple dimensions and elements/attributes. What is more, there is no comprehensive definition that takes into account the varying aspects of usability. This leads to discrepancies in policies/standards/guidelines which facilitate good usability practices. To initially address this problem, we took the first step of systematically analyzing the terms represented in formally published definitions from a number of sources in the subject areas of library & information science and computer science/information systems. Our results reveal that there are approximately 11 elements/attributes of usability and web usability addressed within these sources. The top five attributes are: learnability, effectiveness, user‐related attributes, users' attitude/satisfaction, and efficiency. However, other critical usability attributes received little to no attention in publications of either discipline.