Ubicua: uma técnica de inspeção de usabilidade para avaliar aplicações web móveis

Abstract

The increasing interest on mobile technologies and the evolutionary context in which mobile applications are developed have made the usability evaluation of these applications an important research area. However, usability evaluations are often avoided by developers or companies due to their lack of experience in the field. This thesis presents the UBICUA (Usability-Based Inspection CUstomizable Approach) technique, an inspection technique specifically proposed to assess the usability of hybrid mobile web applications (i.e., applications that rely on the Internet, such as widgets). Also, our approach is customizable by the inspector s knowledge, which results in a greater usability problem identification even by non-expert users. To support our UBICUA technique s creation process, this research has adopted an evidence-based methodology. Then, this thesis describes how UBICUA was created based on the outcome of a secondary study, two results feasibility studies and observation studies. Our ultimate goal is to increase the quality of hybrid mobile web applications and improve the user s interaction in this technology. We also present the guidelines and resources developed to support the execution of usability inspections of mobile applications in software development organizations.