Abstract
Quantitative usability requirements are a critical but challenging, and hence an often neglected aspect of a usability engineering process. A case study is described where quantitative usability requirements played a key role in the development of a new user interface of a mobile phone. Within the practical constraints of the project, existing methods for determining usability requirements and evaluating the extent to which these are met, could not be applied as such, therefore tailored methods had to be developed. These methods and their applications are discussed.


Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Also other terms such as user-centred design and human-centred design are used, although some authors do not consider these terms synonyms.
Often called formative usability evaluations.
Often called summative usability evaluation.
Wireless Application Protocol.
Reasons not within the scope of this article.
References
Norman DA, Draper S (eds) (1986) User centered system design. Hillsdale, Erlbaum (NY)
Gould JD, Boies SJ, Levy S, Richards JT, Schoonard J (1987) The 1984 Olympic message system: a test of behavioral principles of system design. Commun ACM 30(9):758–769
Beyer H, Holtzblatt K (1998) Contextual design: defining customer-centered systems. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco, p 472
Carroll JM, Mack RL (1985) Metaphor, computing systems and active learning. Int J Man Mach Stud 221(1):39–57
Nielsen J (1993) Usability engineering. Academic, San Diego, p 358
Hix D, Hartson HR (1993) Developing user interfaces: ensuring usability through product and process.Wiley, New York, p 416
Mayhew DJ (1999) The usability engineering lifecycle. Morgan Kaufman, San Fancisco
Constantine LL, Lockwood LAD (1999) Software for use. Addison-Wesley, New York, p 579
Cooper A, Saffo P (1999) The inmates are running the asylum: why high tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. Sams 261
Rosson MB, Carroll JM (2002) Usability engineering. Scenario-based development of human–computer interaction. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco
ISO/IEC, 13407 Human-centred design processes for interactive systems ISO/IEC 13407: 1999 (E)
Jokela T (2004) The KESSU usability design process model. Version 2.1. Oulu University, p 22
Good M, Spine TM, Whiteside J, G.P (1986) User-derived impact analysis as a tool for usability engineering. In: Conference proceedings on human factors in computing systems
Wixon D, Wilson C (1997) The usability engineering framework for product design and evaluation. In: Helander M, Landauer T, Prabhu P (eds) Handbook of human–computer interaction. Elsevier, Amsterdam. pp 653–688
Jokela T, Pirkola J (1999) Using quantitative usability goals in the design of a user interface for cellular phones. In: INTERACT ‘99 (Volume II). British Computer Society, Wiltshire, Edinborough
Göransson B, Gulliksen J, Boivie I (2003) The usability design process — integrating user-centred systems design in the software development process. Softw Process Improvement Practice 8(2)
Gulliksen J, Göransson B, Boivie I, Blomqvist S, Persson J, Cajander Å (2005) Key principles of user-centred systems design. In: Desmarais M, Gulliksen J, Seffah A (eds) Human-centered software engineering: bridging HCl, usability and software engineering
Wixon D (2003) Evaluating usability methods. Why the current literature fails the practitioner. Interactions 10(4):28–34
ISO/IEC (1998) 9241-11 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDT)s—Part 11 Guidance on usability. ISO/IEC 9241-11 :1998 (E)
NIST (2004) Proposed industry format for usability requirements. Draft version 0.62
Whiteside J, Bennett J, Holtzblatt K (1988) Usability engineering: our experience and evolution. In: Helander M (eds) Handbook of human–computer interaction. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 791–817
Kirakowski J, Corbett M (1993) SUMI: The software usability measurement inventory. Br J Educ Technol 24(3):210–212
Brooke J (1986) SUS — A “quick and dirty” usability scale. Digital Equipment Co. Ltd
Chin JP, Diehl VA, Norman KL (1988) Development of an instrument measuring user satisfaction of the human–computer interface. In: Proceedings of SIGCHI ‘88. New York
Jokela T (2005) Guiding designers to the world of usability: determining usability requirements through teamwork. In: Seffah A, Gulliksen J, Desmarais M (eds) Human–centered software engineering. Kluwer HCI series
Gould JD, Lewis C (1985) Designing for usability: key principles and what designers think. Commun ACM 28(3):300–311
Dumas JS, Redish JC (1993)A practical guide to usability testing. Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood
Bevan N, Macleod M (1994) Usability measurement in context. Behav Inf Technol 13(1,2):132–145
Macleod M, Bowden R, Bevan N, Curson I (1997) The MUSiC performance measurement method. Behav Inf Technol 16(4,5):279–293
Maguire M (1998) RESPECT user-centred requirements handbook. Version 3.3. HUSAT Research Institute (now the Ergonomics and Saftety Research Institute, ESRI), Loughborough University
Bevan N, Claridge N, Athousaki M, Maguire M, Catarci T, Matarazzo G, Raiss G (2002) Guide to specifying and evaluating usability as part of a contract, version1.0. PRUE project. Serco Usability Services, London, p 47
ANSI (2001) Common industry format for usability test reports. NCITS 354–2001
Butler KA (1985) Connecting theory and practice: a case study of achieving usability goals. In: SIGCHI 1985. ACM Press, New York, San Francisco
Karat J (1997) User-centered software evaluation methodologies, In: Helander MG, Landauer TK, Prabhu PV (eds) Handbook of human–computer interaction. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Card SK, Moran TP, Newell A (1983) The psychology of human–computer interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale
John BE (1995) Why GOMS?. In: Interactions pp 80–89
Preece J, Rogers Y, Sharp H (2002) Interaction design. Beyond human–computer interaction. Wiley, New York
Snyder C (2003) Paper prototyping. The fast and easy way to design and refine user interfaces. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
Nielsen J (1994) Heuristic evaluation. In: Nielsen J, Mack RL (eds) Usability inspection methods. Wiley, New York
Thomas C, Bevan N (1996) Usability context analysis: a practical guide. Version 4.04. National Physical Laboratory, Teddington
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jokela, T., Koivumaa, J., Pirkola, J. et al. Methods for quantitative usability requirements: a case study on the development of the user interface of a mobile phone. Pers Ubiquit Comput 10, 345–355 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-005-0050-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-005-0050-7