Eva, "This might just be an argument in semantics, but I do think that your view of usability is a reductionist one. If a usability test does not test a user's ability to accomplish a goal using the system under question, what does it test? If a usability test exposes that users hate the system (or love the system) for whatever reason, does that not contribute to that system's usability?"
I think you are right that some of this discussion is semantic. If usability becomes a more generic term and becomes synonymous with "quality" then so be it. I won't like it :), but better that than no evaluation of other aspects of the design at all. And I agree that if usability testing reveals other flaws in the design that are not specifically issues of whether a feature is usable or not, that is a bonus. But, if a design team is relying on "usability testing" to reveal *all* flaws in design, that begs the question of whether common usability methods for evaluation are really up to *intentionally* finding all flaws. For example, in my primary work as a web application designer, mapping screen flow to work flow is one of the most important "critical to quality" elements in design. Usability evaluation may reveal whether a person likes or dislikes the screen flow, but it doesn't measure the *effectiveness* of the screen flow. For that you need the classic time and motion stop watch approach. So if usability is going to expand to include all critical to quality measurement, then it will have to expand its tool set and methods as well. Joseph Selbie Founder, CEO Tristream Web Application Design http://www.tristream.com ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
