Changes between Version 47 and Version 48 of CoreLibrary/UsabilityAnalysis


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Timestamp:
10/25/12 14:26:35 (12 years ago)
Author:
pharms
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  • CoreLibrary/UsabilityAnalysis

    v47 v48  
    77== Generating Usage Models == 
    88 
    9 The first step of AutoQUEST usability analysis is the creation of usage models. Usage models can describe the interactions of a user performed on a GUI as well as calls to an API. The simplest usage model is a sequence of elementary actions. An action is, e.g., clicking with a mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard. A combination of several actions form a task. As an example, the task of entering a word into a textfi 
    10 eld is a combination of actions, such as clicking on the textfi 
    11 eld and pressing and releasing keys. 
    12 Tasks and actions can be combined to form a higher level task. For example, the task of fi 
    13 lling out a form presented by a software is made up of several tasks for entering values into textfi 
    14 elds and a  
    15 final click on a confi 
    16 rmation button. Furthermore, the task of  
    17 filling out the form can be part of another higher level task. Therefore, we organize the tasks in task trees. 
     9The first step of AutoQUESTs usability analysis is the creation of usage models. Usage models can describe the interactions of a user performed on a GUI as well as calls to an API. The simplest usage model is a sequence of elementary actions. An action is, e.g., clicking with a mouse or pressing a key on the keyboard. A combination of several actions form a task. As an example, the task of entering a word into a textfield is a combination of actions, such as clicking on the textfield and pressing and releasing keys. 
     10Tasks and actions can be combined to form a higher level task. For example, the task of filling out a form presented by a software is made up of several tasks for entering values into textfields and a final click on a confirmation button. Furthermore, the task of filling out the form can be part of another higher level task. Therefore, we organize the tasks in task trees. 
    1811 
    19 A task tree is a structure for a task that a user or another system performs with a software. It decomposes a task into subtasks, which can be further subdivided. Each task and its subtasks are represented as nodes in the task tree. The leaf nodes of a task tree represent the actions a user must perform to fulfi 
    20 ll the overall task. The subtasks of a parent task are set into temporal relationship. This de 
    21 fines the order in which they must be executed to ful 
    22 fill the parent task. 
     12A task tree is a structure for a task that a user or another system performs with a software. It decomposes a task into subtasks, which can be further subdivided. Each task and its subtasks are represented as nodes in the task tree. The leaf nodes of a task tree represent the actions a user must perform to fulfill the overall task. The subtasks of a parent task are set into temporal relationship. This defines the order in which they must be executed to fulfill the parent task. 
    2313 
    2414The input for generating task trees in AutoQUEST are sequences of elementary actions. Those can be manually defined or recorded using the monitors provided by AutoQUEST. AutoQUEST then combines actions that logically belong together into tasks. For example, it creates a task for all interactions that took place in the same panel of a GUI. In a next step, AutoQUEST identifies iterations of task. Finally, AutoQUEST identifies selections between different tasks that a user can choose from at a specific point in the interaction. The result is a condensed task tree, that shows all possible interaction combinations.