UsabML: formalising the exchange of usability findings

  • Authors:
  • Johannes Feiner;Keith Andrews;Elmar Krajnc

  • Affiliations:
  • FH JOANNEUM, Kapfenberg, Austria;Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;FH JOANNEUM, Kapfenberg, Austria

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGCHI symposium on Engineering interactive computing systems
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

During the iterative development of interactive software, formative evaluation is often performed to find and fix usability problems early on. The output of a formative evaluation usually takes the form of a prioritised list of usability findings, each finding typically consisting of a description of the problem, how often it occurred, and sometimes a recommendation for a possible solution. Unfortunately, the valuable results of formative evaluations are usually collected into a written document. This makes it extremely difficult to automate the handling of usability findings. A more formalised, electronic format for the handover of usability findings would make much more sense. UsabML is a formalised structure for reporting usability findings expressed in XML. It allows usability experts and software engineers to import usability findings into bug (issue) tracking systems, to associate usability issues with parts of source code, and to track progress in fixing them.