Forward
Usability focuses on making software, websites and on-line applications or services easy for people to use. Accessibility focuses on making them equally easy for everyone to use, including people who may use assistive technologies such as screen readers etc.'
Rationales
The teaching process is defined by Laurillard (1993) as forming a link between the world and the learner. Multimedia and static presentations are available on the Internet with interactive and dynamic approaches, which are potentially a means of improving the quality of learning. They address a surfers learning needs in a variety of ways and offer involvement in and control over the learning process. A combination of presentations offers flexibility in use and can meet a variety of different learning needs.
Universal usability focuses on the goal to encourage all citizens to benefit from the technology of the Internet. However, it embraces a wider coverage of factors that can prevent access to and successful utilization. As an accessibility concept, universal usability considers user diversity but besides abilities, cultural and age factors; levels of skills and knowledge; income that can prevent access to technology or influence the level or quality of use; literacy that covers both the issue of multiple languages and illiteracy; a variety of technological solutions and interoperability issues and so forth.
Surfers
Developers consider children as a target group characterized by specific cognitive and physical abilities associated with their age. Most often developmental psychology is employed to determine the capability of a child to understand and use certain material. Action, and visual information and visual interest will expand your production as verbal information will be the words read aloud by an adult, later the child will read the words to themselves. In these productions, pictures are included in the same way as in printed books: still pictures whose function depends on the book, and the age of the child. The format is very predictable; the attractiveness is in the story, not in fancy animations or other visuals.
Most productions for older children and adults are best applied as being a group who may lack the required background information, or may not be familiar with vocabulary or concepts in the production. The ease of reading is usually less demanding with respect to language and background knowledge, and is usually short. While other producers would write on the basis of readability formulas (word length, sentence length), but may prove difficult to translate.
Given the diversity that is present, it is clear that intuitive analysis will not be sufficient to clearly define the audience for their expectations and needs. Because of the emphasis on usability and audience for Internet productions in this article, usability testing should play a key role in each stage of the production development. The document must stand on its own and anticipate user questions if it is to effectively guide users from start to finish.
There are other factors with deal with dependencies on culture, like graphics and visuals, colors, functionality, sound, metaphors and mental models are covert factors. These must be considered to avoid misinterpretation or offending the target audience or culture as the production is adapted to cut rural user interfaces and diversity.
Longevity
By raising the issue of technology as a universally mediator in the field of human activity in the information age, Shneiderman suggests a concept of universal usability that would guarantee successful utilization of technology by any citizen. In this context, he offers not a description of usability components but a broad research agenda. It is important to note that universal usability should not be understood as universal access, which does not assure usable technologies. Shneiderman goes beyond universal access and builds his model of universal usability on three main issues or challenges: Technology diversity whose main tenant is rapid change; user diversity, which if not taken into account may be a barrier rather than a medium of success to information and may divide society into information rich and poor; and gaps in user knowledge which may be overcome with common environments and standard terminology, but in other cases it takes a lot of time and produces stressful situations and even user resistance to the technology or standards. Producers should facilitate gap filling by providing users with interfaces structured according to user knowledge levels, add training and support, and so on.
Online material can be used to enrich the learning experience. Surfers are becoming more familiarly with using information and information and communication technology to support their wants and desires, teachers and tutors are also finding an invaluable tool and industry is fully aware of the essential nature of online information. It is therefore important the producers of web content build for the future and longevity of their online efforts.
ISO'S AND USABILITY
Short for International Organization for Standardization. Note that ISO is not an acronym; instead, the name derives from the Greek word iso, which means equal. Founded in 1946, ISO is an international organization composed of national standards bodies from over 75 countries. Any discussion about the usability of learning productions on the internet, can utilize the frame work of ISO development, which is briefly discussed below.
Standards propose six parameters of information development-functionality, usability, reliability, efficiency, maintainability and portability, which are understood as a set of product characteristics that enable it to satisfy implied user needs.
Copyright:1986-2008