Usability engineering
|
Usability engineering is a subset of human factors that is specific to computer science and is concerned with the question of how to design software that is easy to use. It is closely related to the field of human-computer interaction and industrial design. See also usability, usability testing.
Among the leading proponents of this field of study are Donald Norman and Jakob Nielsen. Nielsen has written a book on the subject, aptly titled Usability Engineering, which was published in 1994.
The subject is considered of sufficient importance that a number of universities include a usability engineering course as part of the computer science curriculum.
See also user interface engineering