Related characteristics
understandability
learnability
operability
explicitness
customisability
attractivity
clarity
helpfulness
user-friendliness
Explicitness
Description
Attributes that bear on the clarity of the software product with regard to its status (progression bars, etc.).
Indicators
1. expert judgement on explicitness
Explicitness of the software product as judged by a team of experts.
Source: QUINT
Scale: ordinal Validity: **
Protocol:
1. Designate one or more experts to judge the explicitness;
2. Let the experts express explicitness as: high: status of almost every action is displayed or notified; average: same, but with a restricted set of actions; low: same, but with very few actions.
2. insecure time
The period of time the user is left insecure about the status of the software product.
Source: QUINT
Scale: ratio
Validity: **
Protocol:
1. Select a representative set of actions;
2. Perform these actions;
3. Measure the length of the interval before status information is displayed (when no status information is shown, do not include this in the measurement but report otherwise);
4. Determine the average interval and the dispersion of the intervals.
3. status report ratio
The ratio of all possible actions, that is immediately followed by a status report of the software product after activation.
Source: QUINT
Scale: ratio
Validity: **
Protocol:
1. Make an inventory of all possible actions, e.g. by using the functional specification;
2. Determine which actions are almost immediately followed by feedback regarding the status;
3. Calculate the status report ratio, which is (2) / (1).
4. insecure time in practice
The period of time the user is left insecure about the status of the software product, reported by the users after a period of use.
Source: QUINT
Scale: ordinal
Validity: **
Protocol:
1. Select a representative group of users;
2. Ask these users to write down how often and how long they have been kept insecure about the status of the software product;
3. Collect these notes;
4. Determine explicitness based on these notes, in terms of: high: users are hardly kept insecure after the start of an action, and if so, only for a short time; average: same, but more often and for a longer period; low: same, but most of the time and for a longer period.
5. status or progress report availability ratio
The ratio of status or progress reports that are available to the ones required for a given set of functions.
Source: ISO
Note: A higher ratio is preferred.