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Usability ​

Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use.

It is defined by 3 main quality components:

  • Effectiveness: Perform task without error, reach objective
  • Efficiency: Time to perform tasks, with minimal effort
  • Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design

Sometimes, effectiveness is detailed into 3 other components:

  • Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design ?
  • Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency ?
  • Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from them ?

Sometimes, we trade learnability, memorability and errors to another quality component: effectiveness

Resources ​