A process-based approach to test usability of multi-platform mobile applications

Abstract

In order to make a mobile application available to a wider audience, developers need to implement different versions on various mobile platforms. As consequence, the application needs to work properly in these platforms considering all quality characteristics. Usability is one of these characteristics that has direct impact on the success or failure of a mobile application. There are many studies that address mobile application tests, however they often do not handle multiplatform tests and also only cover few number of usability attributes used in mobile applications. In this paper, we propose a process-based approach that guides the activities related to usability testing in multiplatform mobile applications. To do that, specific guidelines and templates were proposed to support usability testing in a multiplatform environment. In addition, our approach comprises all seven usability attributes described in the PACMAD (People At the Centre of Mobile Application Development) model. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, a case study using the three current main mobile platforms was performed taking the Flipboard app as the sample mobile application.