Usability and the relation between usability and  good design really interests me. By usability I mean “extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use” ISO 9241-11. It interests me so much I’m doing a PhD in it.

In the title of this post, I am not saying that making a website usable will actually make that website better designed. Usability is important but not the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal is to allow users to achieve what they are there to do. I visit many websites that are “fun” to interact with, but when you set a goal the interactivity changes from “fun” to “frustrating”. Many of all-flash websites fall into this category. To complicate things further, some users find the websites pleasant and others do not even though they take the same amount of time to achieve their goal.

An additional factor that relates to achieving one’s goal is utility. Utility is “The quality or condition of being useful; usefulness”. So we have utility and usability. However, when I was looking up usability, one of the thesaurus I found was utilizable: “capable of being utilized”. In that sense, I do not think that something can be utilized if it is not usable. However, sometimes people are forced to use a software/system or another and there, even if that software usability is not great, that software/system will be utilized. Maybe it would not be utilized to the extent required but it will be utilized nonetheless. Now what really suffers here is the satisfaction, because this is the only factor the user can control, or modify. Usability in this case comes in to increase the satisfaction by increasing, or trying to increase, the efficiency and effectiveness of the software/system.

An example of that which is universal is a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), known in the UK as Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency DVLA. People always hate that trip: it is usually slow and bureaucratic, similar to getting your tooth pulled out, which is another good example here. Now how can we fix that with one thing to change? Say making it faster but you will still have to go through the same process, or by making it less bureaucratic but takes the same time. I understand that one should effect the other positively, making it less bureaucratic should make it faster, but let us assume that only one could one be changed that wouldn’t have an effect on the other. Would that increase the satisfaction of users?

I am just thinking through words here. Any input?