Inspection Methods

Abstract

A usability inspection is an evaluation methodology whereby an evaluator examines the usability aspects of a web site with respect to its conformance to a set of guidelines. Guidelines can range from highly specific prescriptions to broad principles, and unlike other evaluation methods, inspections rely solely on the evaluator’s judgment. A large number of detailed usability guidelines exist for evaluating web interfaces (e.g., [Comber, 1995; Detweiler and Omanson, 1996; Levine, 1996; Lynch and Horton, 1999; World Wide Web Consortium, 1999]). Common inspection techniques are heuristic evaluation [Nielsen, 1993] and cognitive walkthroughs [Blackmon et al., 2002; Lewis et al., 1990].