白銀 純子

Due to the prevalence of tablets, the usability of the User Interfaces (UIs) must be improved, but the number of support methods for usability evaluations for tablets is small. Herein we propose a method to automatically evaluate usability based on operation histories, including action frequency and operation times, and statistical analysis. Because our approach easily detects UI design problems, the burdens on developers and costs can be reduced. Using a small-scale case study and test with about 20 participants, we show that our approach can detect detailed problems with usability via a mostly automated process.

To realize usability in software, GUI (Graphical User Interface) layouts must be consistent because consistency allows end users to operate software based on previous experiences. Often consistency can be achieved by user interface guidelines, which realize consistency in a software package as well as between various software packages within a platform. Because end users have different experiences and perceptions, GUIs based on guidelines are not always usable for end users. Thus, it is necessary to realize consistency without guidelines. Herein we propose a method to realize consistent GUIs where existing software packages are surveyed and common patterns for window layouts, which we call layout rules, are specified. Our method uses these layout rules to arrange the windows of GUIs. Concretely, source programs of developed GUIs are analyzed to identify the layout rules, and then these rules are used to extract parameters to generate source programs of undeveloped GUIs. To evaluate our method, we applied it to existing GUIs in software packages to extract the layout rules from several windows and to generate other windows. The evaluation confirms that our method easily realizes layout consistency.

To realize layout consistency and operability of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), user interface guidelines (UI guidelines) are common. Currently, UI guidelines vary by platform (e. g., operating systems and desktop systems) and even by company. Although UI guidelines must be applied to GUIs, applying them is burdensome for software developers because UI guidelines contain many detailed guideline elements. To reduce this burden, we previously proposed a method to apply user interface guidelines to GUIs. However, this method targets specific UI guidelines. Hence to apply diverse UI guidelines, unified descriptions of guideline elements and mechanisms to automatically apply guideline elements to GUIs must be developed. In this paper, we propose templates to describe guideline elements of various UI guidelines and a method to automatically apply guideline elements to GUIs. The proposed method can support the development of new guideline elements.

Web pages are used for a variety of purposes. End users must understand dynamically changing content and sequentially follow page links to find desired material, requiring significant time and effort. However, for visually impaired users using screen readers, it can be difficult to find links to web pages when link text and alternative text descriptions are inappropriate. Our method supports the discovery of content by analyzing 8 categories of link types, and allows visually impaired users to be aware of the content represented by links in advance. This facilitates end users access to necessary information on web pages. Our method of classifying web page links is therefore effective as a means of evaluating accessibility.

For software development, methods must be able to effectively perform evaluations with respect to financial and time considerations. Usability evaluations are commonly performed to ensure software is usable. Most evaluations are individually performed, leading to some significant disadvantages. Although individual evaluations identify many usability problems, efficient modifications in terms of cost and development time are difficult. Additionally, usability problems in only specific perspectives are identified in individual usability evaluations. It is important to identify comprehensively usability problems in various perspectives. To improve these situations, the authors have proposed a method to automatically integrate various types of usability evaluations. Their method adds functions to record the operation histories of the target software. This information is then used to perform individual usability evaluations with an emphasis on usability categories, such as efficiency, errors, and learnability. Then the method integrates these individual evaluations to identify usability problems and subsequently prioritize these problems according to usability categories determined by the software developers and end users. Specifically, the authors' research focuses on employing automatic usability evaluations to identify problems. For example, they analyze the operation histories, but do not focus on manually performed evaluations such as heuristic ones. They assume their research can aid software developers and usability engineers because their work allows them to recognize the more serious problems. Consequently, the software can be modified to resolve the usability problems and better meet the end users' requirements. In the future, the authors strive to integrate more diverse usability evaluations, including heuristic evaluations, to refine integration capabilities, to identify problems in more detail, and to improve the effectiveness of the usability evaluations. © 2013, IGI Global.

Web pages are used for various purposes. End users must sequentially follow page links to find necessary content, requiring significant time and effort. Our method supports the location of content by analyzing link types. This facilitates end users' access to necessary information on web pages.

Currently numerous websites contain dynamic content, but it is difficult to create accessible websites with dynamic content compared to those with static content. Because many platforms can realize Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), it is important that this type of dynamic content become accessible. We propose a method to improve accessibility of RIAs. Our method consists of two phases. In the first phase, we develop libraries to realize accessibility of RIAs. In the second phase, the libraries are automatically applied to RIAs. As an example of platforms that realize RIAs, our research focuses on JavaFX Script. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin.

Computers and software have become necessities in human society. and most people ale replied to be able to use them However software is not always accessible for users with special needs, and it is difficult to develop software accessible to such users Theme are many guidelines and support tools for developing accessible websites For software, however such guidelines and support tools are few In our research, to develop accessible software easily we propose a method of evaluating the accessibility of Graphical User Interface (GUI) software This method involves analyzing GUI software source programs. assessing accessibility on the basis of accessibility guidelines, and presenting a list of unsatisfactory accessibility code and indicating how to modify it.

Computers and software are now widely used in human society. With their dissemination, it becomes necessary for disabled and elderly people to use software. However, it is difficult to develop accessible software for them. Also, there are many guidelines and support tools for developing accessible web sites. However, for software, such guidelines and support tools are few. In our research, to develop accessible software easily, we propose a method of evaluating the accessibility of Graphical User Interface (GUI) software. In our method, source programs of GUI software are analyzed, the accessibility of the GUI software is evaluated along with the accessibility guidelines, and the list of unsatisfactory codes for accessibility and indications on how to modify them are shown.

To develop usable software, it is necessary to develop GUIs in iterative steps, such as evaluating usability of GUIs and improving GUIs. In improving GUIs, developers are often required to modify not only GUI codes but also logic codes of the software. In our research, to make GUI improvement easy, we propose a method for automatically searching for modification codes which developers are required to modify and suggesting how to modify them. To search for more appropriate modification codes, we define roles of widgets according to purposes of usages and patterns for how to change GUIs.