Usability Section

This Usability Section of my webspace covers computer system usability and human-computer interaction (HCI) from my perspective:

• Brief definitions of HCI and usability and pointers to webspaces with good introductory information
• Some useful links — sources of info/news, guidelines, Web HCI, and lists of links (note: This is old and probably outdated. I will revise it when I get a chance.)
• Favorite usability quotes
• Areas of special interest, including some articles of mine:
  • Standards and guidelines for software user interfaces
    • My article "HCI Standards: A Mixed Blessing"
  • Usability engineering in government systems
  • Integrating HCI and usability engineering with system and software engineering
  • Language and semantic issues in usability
    • An article I coauthored, "What's in a Word? The Semantics of Usability"
• A humorous piece on The Crew as a Subsystem (source unknown)

For a bit of background about how I got started in usability, what I'm doing, my education, and papers I've written, see my usability background.

My webspace also has a Personal Section, which has a miscellany of interests both serious and fun (including some articles about travel in Scotland and about Jungian psychological type), and a Photography Section, which covers the other major pursuit in my life.

What are HCI and usability?

• HCI: The interaction and communication between people and computers. The Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) (who ought to know :-) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) defines HCI as follows:

  
  "Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them." — ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction, 1992, p. 5

  For an excellent introduction to HCI, see Chapter 2 of the SIGCHI Curricula.

• Usability: How well a system or product supports people in doing their tasks and activities. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) defines usability as follows:

  
  Usability is "the extent to which a product can be used to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use." — ISO 9241 (Ergonomic Requirements for Office Work with Visual Display Terminals), Part 11 (Guidance on Usability)

  For more information, see Nigel Bevan's pages on the European MUSiC (Measuring the Usability of Systems in Context) project.

Although HCI and usability are obviously related, there is some difference between the two. I may include an explanation of how I see the difference, after I figure out exactly what I want to say about it. If anyone knows of a webspace that contains an explanation of the difference and to which I could link instead of writing it myself, please let me know.

Some useful links on HCI and usability

• General info and news
  • FAQ for comp.human-factors -- frequently asked questions about HCI and computer system usability, maintained by Edgar Matias
  • Gary Perlman's Suggested Readings on HCI and related topics -- a list of books and articles at both introductory and advanced levels
  • SIGCHI Bulletin -- the quarterly bulletin (news and reviews) of ACM SIGCHI
  • A comprehensive book list, compiled by Chauncey Wilson of WilDesign Consulting and presented by User Interface Engineering
  • A reading list, compiled by Andrew Sears of DePaul University
  • HCI Resources Network -- a rich compendium of information about HCI, human factors, and usability, by Thomas Wolfmaier. One of the more interesting pieces concerns color vision deficiencies and includes an Excel spreadsheet to help determine how well a Web color scheme will work for people with color vision deficiencies (note: Most of the information here now requires a paid subscription, including the color page)
• Standards and Guidelines (there are others, but in my opinion these are the best)
  • Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines
  • IBM Ease of Use/Design
  • ISO 9241, Ergonomic Standards for Office Work with Visual Display Terminals
  • Brian Hayes's Interface Hall of Fame and Interface Hall of Shame -- I don't agree with all of it, but it is interesting and informative
• Web HCI
  • "Ask Dr. Web about Design", by Jeffrey Zeldman -- a web design treatise that manages to be both informative and irreverent. (Also includes some invaluable recommendations for Mac-based tools.)
  • "Usable Web", by Keith Instone
  • "Alertbox" column on "Issues in Web page design" by Jakob Nielsen (especially the May 1996 issue, "Top Ten Mistakes in Web Page Design" and the December 1996 issue, "Why Frames Suck (Most of the Time)")
  • Web Pages That Suck -- delightfully presented examples of web page design flaws, with good explanations of what's wrong and why
  • TLC Systems Corp -- enjoyable presentation of info on good Web design (with a few don'ts thrown in)
• Some guidelines on Web HCI
  • (I used to have a link to the Apple Web Design Guidelines, but they've disappeared.)
  • IBM Web Design Guidelines
  • Ameritech Web Page UI and Design Guidelines
• The list of lists of HCI and WebHCI webspaces
  • ACM/SIGCHI websites page, by Gary Perlman

Favorite usability quotes

• "If the user can't use it, it doesn't work." -- Susan Dray, Dray and Associates
  • (Corollary: If the user can't find it, it doesn't exist.)
• "If I can see it [the interface], it's a failure." -- Bill Buxton, University of Toronto
• "There is one answer to every question about user interface design, and that is -- It depends." -- Jim Foley, Georgia Tech (formerly of The George Washington University)
• "One person's toy is another one's tool. Toys and tools often have different interfaces." -- Bob Kamper, IBM
• "Hidden features are the moral equivalent of harassment of end users by software developers." -- Bob Kamper again
• "Windows is an attempt to imititate the Macintosh, by someone who really didn't understand." -- Tom Piwowar, one of the "Computer Guys," monthly guests on The Derek McGinty Show , which used to be on WAMU-FM

Special interest areas of mine

(I will expand these topics in upcoming enhancements to the Usability Section.)

Standards and guidelines for software user interfaces

I've been a member since 1992 of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's HCI Standards Committee, which is currently writing the standard HFES-200, "Human Factors Engineering of Software User Interfaces," as an accredited standards developing organization of the American National Standards Institute. I am the editor of two sections: definitions and references. For more information on this forthcoming standard, contact HFES.

The Committee is also continuing to contribute to the development of international standards related to software usability (mainly those of the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO).

Warning: HCI standards and guidelines are not the answer to all your design problems. To find out why, see my page on HCI Standards: A Mixed Blessing.

Usability engineering in government systems

For 30 years I've been working in the area of computer-based systems for civilian government agencies. Through the years I've noticed that most of the attendees at SIGCHI conferences, and virtually all of the research and publication on HCI and usability, are oriented toward one of two types of products/systems, neither of which is readily translatable to the procurement and engineering processes that governments tend to use.

So, for several years I was heavily involved in the efforts to raise the awareness of the SIGCHI community to the special issues and challenges that confront HCI and usability in government system procurements/developments. In 1995 I cochaired a workshop on this topic at SIGCHI's annual conference, and wrote the workshop report for the SIGCHI Bulletin. (The report is listed as being by two authors, because two of us chaired the workshop. But I wrote the durn thing myself.)

I am also involved in the efforts to raise the awareness among government decisionmakers about the importance of usability in procurement and development. With Bill Hefley (then of the Software Engineering Institute), I spoke on this topic at the 1997 NIST Symposium on Usability Engineering in Government Systems.

At the 1998 NIST symposium, held in conjunction withthe Usability Professionals Association and its annual conference, I gave a tutorial with Charlie Kreitzberg of Cognetics Corporation on "Using the RFP to Get the Usability You Need."

I'm thinking of preparing a page on usability in government systems.

Integrating HCI and usability engineering with system and software engineering

One of my longtime interests has been incorporating usability engineering into the system life cycle. I point you to the abstract of a paper I coauthored with several others: "Integrating Human Factors with Software Engineering Practices." I also gave a paper titled "Integrating HCI Engineering with Software Engineering: A Call to a Larger Vision" at the HCI International 97 conference in August of 1997.

 

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Copyright © 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006 Elizabeth A. Buie. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to print this page or link to it, as long as such use is personal or educational and is not for commercial gain or profit.

Last updated 22 January 2007, to add a link to the HCI '97 paper