March 30, 2012, 3:00 PM, Room 214 – Rekhi Hall
Title: Generating Automated Usability Tests for User Centered Design
The agile approach to software development gives top priority to satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. A key component of the agile approach is test driven development (TDD), which involves the continuous maintenance of an automated regression test suite. One area that appears resistant to TDD is usability testing, due to its inherently subjective nature. Without automated usability testing, many HCI intensive applications cannot be developed in a fully agile manner.
This research project will provide automated usability tests that can supplement standard usability testing. It uses generative programming techniques to create test code based on common usability heuristics. Generated code can adapt to varying styles of interface, and can ground subjective decisions in objective criteria. [Video]