Usability evaluation of user interfaces in complex tasks — applying usability heuristics to CAD UI evaluation in practical work. (1st January 2004) - Haapasalo, Harri
The importance of the information technology (IT) has increased in design work. The usability and applicability of computer aided design (CAD) to practical work is not in the level that could be expected. There is significant unutilised capacity in design studios which have acquired CAD applications. Most of the problems seem to be in the UI, but the abilities of designers vary as well. Rigidities and inconveniences in applications have caused negative attitudes towards IT. Usability is the quality measure of a user interface (UI) it means focusing on users. Usability is the measure to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. Usability heuristics is a set of rules to evaluate the usability of application. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate state of the art in CAD UI and applicability of usability heuristics in evaluating UIs in the market.