Usability Techniques for Interactive Software and their Application in E-Commerce

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of usability and usability techniques. It discusses interaction design with a bias on web-based technologies, focusing on usability and usability definitions. Usability principles are discussed with a particular focus on web usability, and some of the techniques that can be used to incorporate usability design and testing. The chapter also considers aspects of electronic commerce usability. These techniques are divided into usability evaluation, (heuristic evaluation, checklists, usability tests, think aloud approaches) followed by designing with usability in mind (including user and task analysis, walkthroughs, user experience and scenario-based usability). Several E-commerce case studies, from a developing economy perspective, are then analysed, before finally discussing E-commerce usability.