Applying usability recommendations when developing mobile instant messaging applications

Mobile Instant Messaging applications noted a growing number of active users recently. Although having millions of users, the previous research results have shown usability flaws in this type of mobile applications. Difficulties when performing tasks, poor design of user interfaces, or lack of infor...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Caro Álvaro, Sergio|||0000-0002-3192-8499, García López, Eva|||0000-0002-7598-3289, García Cabot, Antonio|||0000-0002-0298-3237, Marcos Ortega, Luis de|||0000-0003-0718-8774, Domínguez Díaz, Adrián|||0000-0001-7632-8609
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/63228
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/63228
https://dx.doi.org/10.1049/sfw2.12039
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Human computer interaction
Mobile applications
Software usability
Usability evaluation methods
User interfaces
Informática
Computer science
Descripción
Sumario:Mobile Instant Messaging applications noted a growing number of active users recently. Although having millions of users, the previous research results have shown usability flaws in this type of mobile applications. Difficulties when performing tasks, poor design of user interfaces, or lack of information about privacy and security methods were some of the identified flaws. Consequently, a collection of usability recommendations was proposed. The goal of these recommendations is to improve the experience in the use of these mobile applications and, thus, enhancing the usability of this kind of apps. These recommendations were taken into account during the development process of a new instant messaging application. Thus, in this study, the authors present the resulting application, its characteristics, how usability recommendations were covered through design and development phases, and a preliminary usability evaluation performed by conducting two research methods: KLM and Mobile Heuristic Evaluation. Both methods ranked the prototype at top positions (i.e. good usability results) when compared with the results obtained in previous studies about other existing instant messaging applications.