Opportunities and challenges of touch interfaces : Analysing mobile usability with heuristic evaluation
Kuisma, Sanna (2015)
Kuisma, Sanna
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015060211891
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015060211891
Tiivistelmä
The objective of the thesis was to provide an overview of the usability of the current touchscreen mobile devices. The thesis answers to the following questions: Why touch? Which new possibilities and challenges do touchscreen interfaces incorporate? Are touch interfaces really “intuitive” and “natural” as they are often claimed to be?
In the empirical part of the thesis, user interfaces of four different mobile devices and their operating systems are analysed using heuristic evaluation in hardware, operating system and application levels to measure their usability. The selected set of heuristics is a modification of Nielsen’s heuristics adapted for touchscreen mobile devices. The evaluated operating systems provide an overview of operating systems used in Finland and include Android, Windows Phone, iOS, and Sailfish.
The results indicate that currently the greatest usability violations are low visibility of objects, actions and options; lack of undoing and redoing actions; and not providing help centered on the user’s current task. Problems in visibility are mostly related to the usage of touchscreen gestures and that using gestural interactions is not properly guided to the user.
In the empirical part of the thesis, user interfaces of four different mobile devices and their operating systems are analysed using heuristic evaluation in hardware, operating system and application levels to measure their usability. The selected set of heuristics is a modification of Nielsen’s heuristics adapted for touchscreen mobile devices. The evaluated operating systems provide an overview of operating systems used in Finland and include Android, Windows Phone, iOS, and Sailfish.
The results indicate that currently the greatest usability violations are low visibility of objects, actions and options; lack of undoing and redoing actions; and not providing help centered on the user’s current task. Problems in visibility are mostly related to the usage of touchscreen gestures and that using gestural interactions is not properly guided to the user.