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article · Behaviour and Information Technology · 2001

Usability and software architecture

Bonnie E. John, Len Bass

Cited by 35Abstract and details only

Abstract

The role of software architecture with respect to usability has evolved over the past 20 years. The architectures of the 1980s and early 1990s assumed that usability was primarily a property of the presentation of information. Therefore, simply separating the presentation from the dialogue and application made it easy to modify that presentation after user testing. A more popular belief in the 1990s was that usability concerns greatly affected system functionality as well as the presentation. This emphasis took attention away from architectural support (beyond separation). Achieving the correct functionality for a given system became paramount. It is our observation that even if presentation and functionality of a system are well designed, the usability of a system can be greatly compromised if the underlying architecture does not support human concerns beyond modifiability. This paper will present a new role for software architecture in usability, preliminary research and practice stemming from this role and a research agenda for the future.

Cite this paper

APA 7

John, B. E., & Bass, L. (2001). Usability and software architecture. Behaviour and Information Technology, 20(5), 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290110081686

MLA 9

John, Bonnie E., and Len Bass. “Usability and software architecture.” Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 20, no. 5, 2001, pp. 329–38, https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290110081686.

Chicago

John, Bonnie E., and Len Bass. 2001. “Usability and software architecture.” Behaviour and Information Technology 20 (5): 329–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290110081686.

Harvard

John, B.E. and Bass, L. (2001) ‘Usability and software architecture’, Behaviour and Information Technology, 20(5), pp. 329–338. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290110081686.

BibTeX
@article{john2001usability,
  title = {{Usability and software architecture}},
  author = {John, Bonnie E. and Bass, Len},
  journal = {Behaviour and Information Technology},
  volume = {20},
  number = {5},
  pages = {329--338},
  year = {2001},
  doi = {10.1080/01449290110081686}
}

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