As the use of internet and web gets widened and generalized, the future interest is now focused on user-centered contents and information structure compared with that on technology in past. Therefore, like other interface environment, the usability in web interface environment shall practically use the general developing process in which interface is concerned from the planning stage of web site.
In spite of the awareness of its importance, the approach to web usability was no different from the usability test on physical products or on softwares till now. Only a little modification of existing usability test or reproductions of guidelines and principles experts suggested were applied.
Based on backgrounds mentioned above, a new interface evaluation method is studied to understand and help the problems of web interface environment occurred in both real user environment and the interactions from it.
In this study, it was conducted that an understanding the characteristic of web in the view of HCI(Human-Computer Interaction) and defining the direction of web usability test with some fundamental research on user’s operating behaviors and movements in hyperlinks. After that, the existing methods was analyzed and synthesized in order to study the current web usability test. These methods were analyzed in a certain process that can actually examine the problems and advantages found in web usability tests. Then, a new tool that can record and analyze the motion tracks and several operating situations of web user has been developed, which eventually suggests various modules to visualize the user’s interaction for its practical use. It’s also possible to export an event data list for more detailed analysis.
Finally, the case experimental usability test with mouse tracker and analyzer has shown its possibility as an useful and practical evaluation method for web interface. Also major findings and the limits of the method are identified and summarized.
