Standards & Guidelines

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Guidelines

To provide a set of usability design recommendations that can help to encourage the use of good usability design concepts for an interactive product.

Standards

We try to comply to International Standards as well as local standards. International Standards are listed as follows:

ISO 13407

ISO 13407: Human-centred design (HCD) processes for interactive systems.

ISO 13407 is defined as the planning and management of a design process to facilitate the goal of making computer systems usable.

Simply put, it establishes how user research should be involved in designing products. Its objectives range from enhancing effectiveness and productivity, improving human working conditions, to counteracting the possible adverse effects of use on human health, safety and performance.

Principles for Human-centred Design 

The 4 principles required for human-centred design (HCD):

  • Active involvement of users and a clear understanding of user and task requirements
  • Appropriate allocation of function between users and technology
  • Iteration of design solutions
  • Multi-disciplinary design.

Activities in Human-centred Design

It specifies the following activities:

  • Planning of the human-centred design process
  • Specification of the user and organisational requirements
  • Understanding and specification of the context of use
  • Production of design solutions
  • Evaluation of designs against requirements

ISO 9241

ISO 9241: Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals.

The main standard for design of the user interface and interaction is ISO 9241. Parts 12-17 provide detailed guidance on the design of user interfaces.

ISO 9241-11 explains how to identify the information that is necessary to take into account when specifying or evaluating usability in terms of measures of user performance and satisfaction.

CIF

Common Industry Format (CIF) developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

The ANSI/INCITS-354 Common Industry Format (CIF) for Usability Test Reports is a standard method for reporting usability test findings. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the CIF December 12, 2001 as the standard for reporting usability test results.
 

Purpose of CIF

The purpose of the CIF is to encourage incorporation of usability as an element in decision making for software procurement.

The format is primarily for reporting results of formal usability tests in which quantitative measurements were collected and is particularly appropriate for summative testing. The ANSI/INCITS-354 standard revolves the test metrics around the 3 core components of usability:

  • Effectiveness: a measure of user productivity, how well a user can perform his job accurately and completely.
  • Efficiency: a measure of how quickly a user can perform work, the resources expended to accomplish the task.
  • Satisfaction: The degree to which users like the product – a subjective response in terms of ease of use, frustration, and usefulness.