A Framework for Early Usability Integration in Web Applications Development Process

2011 ◽  
pp. 292-314
Author(s):  
Daniela M. Andrei ◽  
Adriana M. Guran
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Web Design ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Development Life Cycle ◽  
Software Engineering Process ◽  
Complex Goal ◽  
The Web

Developing usable products becomes more and more important for software developers. Developing web applications it’s more challenging than developing desktop applications due to the various users that will interact with the final product. Satisfying users’ expectations becomes a very difficult task, as usability proves to be a very complex goal to achieve in the context of increased productivity targets in software engineering process. The present chapter focuses on the idea of rethinking the concept of usability moving from the traditional view of usability expressed in the internal characteristics of the product towards usability understood as deriving from the quality of interactions between humans, their work and the web design product. Usability is not only an add-on or a final result in the design process but it is embedded as a main concern within the design process itself. In order to build usable products, a great attention should be oriented to users and their needs, and this can be a very challenging task for software developer teams. In this chapter we will describe an interdisciplinary approach, based on applying social sciences techniques and methods that can be helpful in overcoming the difficulties in understanding the users. We will provide a short description of the proposed methods, a guide in applying these methods and a framework that integrates each of the proposed methods into the corresponding step of the web product development life cycle. The chapter ends with the presentation of two case studies showing the applicability of the proposed solution in real design contexts.

Social Research Methods Used in Moving the Traditional Usability Approach Towards a User-Centered Design Approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-53
Author(s):  
Horia D. Pitariu ◽  
Daniela M. Andrei ◽  
Adriana M. Guran
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Web Design ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
The People

The present chapter focuses on the idea of rethinking the concept of usability moving from the traditional view of usability expressed in the internal characteristics of the product towards usability understood as deriving from the quality of interactions between humans, their work and the web design product. Usability is not only an add-on or a final result in the design process but it is embedded as a main concern within the design process itself. Related to this perspective on usability, the authors discussed the design models which can support it and argued on the importance of using social research tools for a better understanding of the people and their needs starting with the very first stage of design. Further on the authors have provided a brief description of the most frequently used research methods in user needs analysis (interviews, focus groups and surveys) together with short guidelines in preparing and using these methods. The last part is dedicated to the illustration of user needs analysis taken from two of their research projects.

Social Research Methods used in Moving the Traditional Usability Approach Towards a User-Centered Design Approach

2010 ◽  
pp. 225-242
Author(s):  
Horia D. Pitariu ◽  
Daniela M. Andrei ◽  
Adriana M. Guran
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Web Design ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Design Models ◽  
The People

The present chapter focuses on the idea of rethinking the concept of usability moving from the traditional view of usability expressed in the internal characteristics of the product towards usability understood as deriving from the quality of interactions between humans, their work and the web design product. Usability is not only an add-on or a final result in the design process but it is embedded as a main concern within the design process itself. Related to this perspective on usability, the authors discussed the design models which can support it and argued on the importance of using social research tools for a better understanding of the people and their needs starting with the very first stage of design. Further on the authors have provided a brief description of the most frequently used research methods in user needs analysis (interviews, focus groups and surveys) together with short guidelines in preparing and using these methods. The last part is dedicated to the illustration of user needs analysis taken from two of their research projects.

Morpheus Web Testing: A Tool for Generating Test Cases for Widget Based Web Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romulo de Almeida Neves ◽  
Willian Massami Watanabe ◽  
Rafael Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Code Coverage ◽  
Web Testing ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Software Lifecycle ◽  
The Web

Context: Widgets are reusable User Interfaces (UIs) components frequently delivered in Web applications.In the web application, widgets implement different interaction scenarios, such as buttons, menus, and text input.Problem: Tests are performed manually, so the cost associated with preparing and executing test cases is high.Objective: Automate the process of generating functional test cases for web applications, using intermediate artifacts of the web development process that structure widgets in the web application. The goal of this process is to ensure the quality of the software, reduce overall software lifecycle time and the costs associated with tests.Method:We elaborated a test generation strategy and implemented this strategy in a tool, Morpheus Web Testing. Morpheus Web Testing extracts widget information from Java Server Faces artifacts to generate test cases for JSF web applications. We conducted a case study for comparing Morpheus Web Testing with a state of the art tool (CrawlJax).Results: The results indicate evidence that the approach Morpheus Web Testing managed to reach greater code coverage compared to a CrawlJax.Conclusion: The achieved coverage values represent evidence that the results obtained from the proposed approach contribute to the process of automated test software engineering in the industry.

OODM

2003 ◽  
pp. 189-229
Author(s):  
Abad Shah
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Development Life Cycle ◽  
Software Development Life Cycle ◽  
Waterfall Model ◽  
The Web

Today, the Internet and the Web are the most amazingly and dynamically growing computer technologies. The number of users accessing the Web is growing exponentially all over the world. The Web has become a popular environment for new generation of interactive computer applications called Web (or hypermedia) application. The Web applications (WAs) have special characteristics that have made them different from other traditional applications. Hence, many design methodologies for the development of WAs have been proposed. However, most of these methodologies concentrate on the design aspects of applications, and they often do not strictly follow any software development life-cycle model such as the WaterFall software development life-cycle model. In this chapter, we propose an object-oriented design methodology for the development of WAs. The main features of this proposed methodology are that it follows WaterFall model and captures the operations in objects of the applications; thus making the methodology an object-oriented methodology.

Specification of the Context of Use for the Development of Web-Based Applications

2011 ◽  
pp. 146-162
Author(s):  
Marta Fernández de Arriba ◽  
Eugenia Díaz ◽  
Jesús Rodríguez Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Web Applications ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Technological Environment ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Development Team ◽  
Context Of Use ◽  
The Web

This chapter presents the structure of an index which serves as support so allowing the development team to create the specification of the context of use document for the development of Web applications, bearing in mind characteristics of usability and accessibility, each point of the index being explained in detail. A correct preparation of this document ensures the quality of the developed Web applications. The international rules and standards related to the identification of the context of use have been taken into account. Also, the functionality limitations (sensorial, physical, or cognitive) which affect access to the Web are described, as well as the technological environment used by disabled people (assistive technologies or alternative browsers) to facilitate their access to the Web content. Therefore, following the developed specification of the context of use, usable and accessible Web applications with their corresponding benefits can be created.

Human-Computer Interaction

2010 ◽  
pp. 120-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Berenice Vidrio Barón
Keyword(s):  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Web Design ◽  
User Acceptance ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
Website Design ◽  
Science Management ◽  
The Web ◽  
Computer Interaction

Human Computer Interaction is a relatively new field. It has borrowed theories, techniques, and tools from such diverse disciplines such as computer science, management of information systems, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and design. The Web design process needs to evolve in order to include the constructs and tools provided by multidisciplinary research. Culture has been proven to have a direct influence in the way a Web site can be both evaluated and designed. In order to attract and retain users, electronic government Web site designers must acknowledge that culture plays a key role when it comes to user acceptance. The best way to approach the users, who in the case of an electronic government are the citizens, is a citizen-centered approach that must be incorporated into the Website design process.

A Proposed Template for the Evaluation of Web Design Strategies

2009 ◽  
pp. 293-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Xanthidis ◽  
David Nicholas ◽  
Paris Argyrides
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Web Design ◽  
International Literature ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done ◽  
The Web

This chapter is the result of a two years effort to design a template aiming at standardizing, as much as such a task is feasible, the evaluation of Web sites. It is the product of a few publications in international conferences and journals. A thorough review of the international literature on the subject led the authors to conclude there is a very large number of opinions, thoughts and criteria from different professionals involved, directly or indirectly, with the process of designing a good Web site. To make matters even more complicated there are a number of different terms used by various scholars, scientists and professionals around the world that often refer to similar, if not the same, attributes of a Web site. However, it seems that all these differences could boil down to a systematic approach, here called evaluation template, of 53 points that the design strategies of the Web sites should be checked against. This template was tested on a significant number (232) of Web sites of Greek companies and proved it can be used to evaluate the quality of Web sites not only by technology experts but by non-experts alike. The evaluation template, suggested here, is by no means the solution to the problem of standardizing the process of evaluating a Web site but looking at other work done on the subject worldwide it is a step ahead.

Modeling Content Quality for the Web 2.0 and Follow-on Applications

2010 ◽  
pp. 371-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Sassano ◽  
Luis Olsina ◽  
Luisa Mich
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Web Engineering ◽  
Quality Requirements ◽  
Content Quality ◽  
The Web ◽  
Quality In Use

The consistent modeling of quality requirements for Web sites and applications at different stages of the life cycle is still a challenge to most Web engineering researchers and practitioners. In the present chapter, we propose an integrated approach to specify quality requirements to Web sites and applications. By extending the ISO 9126-1 quality views characteristics, we discuss how to model internal, external quality, and quality in use views taking into account not only the software features, but also the own characteristics of Web applications. Particularly, we thoroughly analyze the modeling of the content characteristic for evaluating the quality of information–so critical for the whole Web application eras. The resulting model represents a first step towards a multi-dimensional integrated approach to evaluate Web sites at different lifecycle stages.

A Structured Methodology for Developing 3D Web Applications

2010 ◽  
pp. 15-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel González-Calleros ◽  
Jean Vanderdonckt ◽  
Jaime Muñoz-Arteaga
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Web Applications ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Web Development ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Development Methodology ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
Web 3D ◽  
The Web

Effective and satisfying Web usability is crucial for successfully built Web applications. Traditionally, Web development considered 2D User Interfaces (2D UI) based on Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). Since the end of the 90’s, the evolution of technology and computers capacity introduced a new paradigm, the Web 3D. Similarly to traditional web development, Web 3D development requires an interdisciplinary approach and a profound theoretical background. In this chapter the authors attempt to structure a methodology to support 3DUIs development. The development methodology is articulated on three axes: models and their specification language, method, and tools that support the methodology based on the underlying models. The method considers guidelines to support its correct use towards producing usable 3DUIs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document