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Re: "usability"?

Subject: Re: "usability"?
From: "Henry J. Wicko II" <henry -dot- wicko -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Geoff Hart" <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:29:39 -0400

There is a ton of information here on usability.

http://www.stcsig.org/usability/

I hope you can log in because I was logged in as a member. If not I will
work with you to make sure you can get access. I believe it is free to
everyone.

Henry


On 8/10/06, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:


Ronald Schwarz wondered: <<For a long time I thought "usability" was
the tech writers' shorthand for human factors engineering, as in
design for usability.>>

It is. But note that you said "tech writers". It pays to remember
that words change meaning when used for different audiences, and
unless the audience for your question is "us" <g>, the jargon needs
to change to accomodate the expectations of the audience.

<<Now I have before me a document where the reader is told he will
become familiar with the "usability" of the product - meaning how to
use it. What is the definition of "usability?">>

In this case, the definition is clearly (according to the context you
provided) "how to use it". That isn't the correct definition of
usability in any dialect I'm familiar with, other than perhaps in an
archaic sense, so the solution would be to revise: "will become
familiar with how to use the product". But that's kind of verbose, so
I'd prefer "learn to use the product".

----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
----------------------------------------------------


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References:
"usability": From: Ronald Schwarz
"usability"?: From: Geoff Hart

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