A test-first view of usability
Judy Kay · Interacting with Computers · 2009
The foundations of usability evaluation were being established in the early 1990s. In this context, “Usability – Context, Definition, Design and Evaluation” built upon Brian Shackel’s earlier influential work – work that helped define the notion of usability. In this paper, he established key dimensions of usability as well as approaches to integrating the testing of these dimensions, within the whole process of setting requirements. Essentially he argued for usability design as part of the system design process. This commentary describes the context of Professor Shackel’s paper and reviews the influential ideas that appear in much subsequent work.