Towards a pluralistic, dynamic definition of usability

Abstract

Usability has a rich and dynamic history coming into existence in the late 1970s, but usability goals, practices, and testing methods were engaged with by technical communicators long before usability had a name. This paper discusses the evolution of usability as a quality and as major design objective for information products and technology by interdisciplinary practitioners. Multiple definitions and usability criteria will be provided, as well as a framework for designing quality usability studies, which allows researchers the flexibility to choose their own definition of usability and design a rigorous usability study.