The usability engineering life cycle

Author

Nielsen, Jakob

Author_Institution

Bellcore, Morristown, NJ, USA

Volume

25

Issue

3

fYear

1992

fDate

3/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

12

Lastpage

22

Abstract

A practical usability engineering process that can be incorporated into the software product development process to ensure the usability of interactive computer products is presented. It is shown that the most basic elements in the usability engineering model are empirical user testing and prototyping, combined with iterative design. Usability activities are presented for three main phases of a software project: before, during, and after product design and implementation. Some of the recommended methods are not really single steps but should be used throughout the development process.<>

Keywords

interactive programming; interactive systems; program testing; software engineering; user interfaces; empirical user testing; interactive computer products; iterative design; practical usability engineering process; product design; prototyping; software product development process; software project; usability engineering life cycle; usability engineering model; Application software; Design engineering; Guidelines; Hardware; High performance computing; Prototypes; Software prototyping; Testing; Usability; User interfaces;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computer

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9162

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/2.121503

Filename

121503