Tuhm: A Tool for Supporting Usability Tests on Mobile Applications

Context: A heuristic evaluation is an investigation method used by practitioners to perform usability tests on interfaces. Problem: Notwithstanding the importance of a heuristic evaluation in the execution of usability tests, it is a lengthy process that requires practitioners to explore all parts of a system with critical and meticulous attention to detail. Solution: This work proposes the development of a tool called Tuhm to support practitioners in the execution of heuristic evaluations on mobile applications. IS Theory: Design Theory relates to the heuristic evaluation of the development process of systems and Software Systems Theory relates to the ethical aspect of tools. Method: A validation study was conducted in which specialists were divided into two groups to evaluate a given application using Tuhm. One group used Tuhm during evaluation, and the other group performed the manual analysis of the application. Summary of Results: Our findings reveal that Tuhm made the evaluation process faster and more objective. In addition, it is easy to use, having a fast data entry format and an organized categorization of the problems found. Contributions and Impact in the IS area: Our findings also revealed a difficulty for specialists in reading the set of usability heuristics, as it is an overlong set. Therefore, it was identified the need for improving the presentation of the usability heuristics.