[Usability]Re: `New' sub-menu in desktop's rightclick-menu

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Alex Larsson wrote:

> Usability is important, and so is ease-of-learning. But they are not
> exactly the same, although they are quite related.

Not pertaining to this discussion particularly, but for anyone who's
interested in such things, there does exist an official ISO definition
of "usability":  "the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with
which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a
particular environment."

Perhaps more helpfully, there are also quantative usability metrics out
there to help you measure these things... like SUMI, which quantifies
five aspects of a given user interface: affect (emotional impact),
helpfulness, learnability, efficiency, and control.

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems