Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist

The rapid evolution and adoption of mobile devices raise new usability challenges, given their limitations (in screen size, battery life, etc.) as well as the specific requirements of this new interaction. Traditional evaluation techniques need to be adapted in order for these requirements to be met...

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Main Authors: Rosa Yáñez Gómez, Daniel Cascado Caballero, José-Luis Sevillano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014-01-01
Series:The Scientific World Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/434326
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author Rosa Yáñez Gómez
Daniel Cascado Caballero
José-Luis Sevillano
author_facet Rosa Yáñez Gómez
Daniel Cascado Caballero
José-Luis Sevillano
author_sort Rosa Yáñez Gómez
collection DOAJ
description The rapid evolution and adoption of mobile devices raise new usability challenges, given their limitations (in screen size, battery life, etc.) as well as the specific requirements of this new interaction. Traditional evaluation techniques need to be adapted in order for these requirements to be met. Heuristic evaluation (HE), an Inspection Method based on evaluation conducted by experts over a real system or prototype, is based on checklists which are desktop-centred and do not adequately detect mobile-specific usability issues. In this paper, we propose a compilation of heuristic evaluation checklists taken from the existing bibliography but readapted to new mobile interfaces. Selecting and rearranging these heuristic guidelines offer a tool which works well not just for evaluation but also as a best-practices checklist. The result is a comprehensive checklist which is experimentally evaluated as a design tool. This experimental evaluation involved two software engineers without any specific knowledge about usability, a group of ten users who compared the usability of a first prototype designed without our heuristics, and a second one after applying the proposed checklist. The results of this experiment show the usefulness of the proposed checklist for avoiding usability gaps even with nontrained developers.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2356-6140
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language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-930f635e81e44f90a5c32b5a5aa59fd52025-02-03T00:59:27ZengWileyThe Scientific World Journal2356-61401537-744X2014-01-01201410.1155/2014/434326434326Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New ChecklistRosa Yáñez Gómez0Daniel Cascado Caballero1José-Luis Sevillano2Department of Computer Technology and Architecture, ETS Ingenieria Informatica, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n. 41012 Seville, SpainDepartment of Computer Technology and Architecture, ETS Ingenieria Informatica, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n. 41012 Seville, SpainDepartment of Computer Technology and Architecture, ETS Ingenieria Informatica, Universidad de Sevilla, Avenida Reina Mercedes s/n. 41012 Seville, SpainThe rapid evolution and adoption of mobile devices raise new usability challenges, given their limitations (in screen size, battery life, etc.) as well as the specific requirements of this new interaction. Traditional evaluation techniques need to be adapted in order for these requirements to be met. Heuristic evaluation (HE), an Inspection Method based on evaluation conducted by experts over a real system or prototype, is based on checklists which are desktop-centred and do not adequately detect mobile-specific usability issues. In this paper, we propose a compilation of heuristic evaluation checklists taken from the existing bibliography but readapted to new mobile interfaces. Selecting and rearranging these heuristic guidelines offer a tool which works well not just for evaluation but also as a best-practices checklist. The result is a comprehensive checklist which is experimentally evaluated as a design tool. This experimental evaluation involved two software engineers without any specific knowledge about usability, a group of ten users who compared the usability of a first prototype designed without our heuristics, and a second one after applying the proposed checklist. The results of this experiment show the usefulness of the proposed checklist for avoiding usability gaps even with nontrained developers.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/434326
spellingShingle Rosa Yáñez Gómez
Daniel Cascado Caballero
José-Luis Sevillano
Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
The Scientific World Journal
title Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
title_full Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
title_fullStr Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
title_full_unstemmed Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
title_short Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist
title_sort heuristic evaluation on mobile interfaces a new checklist
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/434326
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AT danielcascadocaballero heuristicevaluationonmobileinterfacesanewchecklist
AT joseluissevillano heuristicevaluationonmobileinterfacesanewchecklist