Formal Specification of Usability Measures in Model-driven Development of Context-sensitive User Interfaces

Developing usability studies to evaluate user interfaces (UIs) is a task requiring a wide variety of skills. In this paper we propose conceptual architecture for design and integration of usability tests in model-driven development of context-sensitive user interfaces. Upon the extended model for development of context-sensitive user interfaces, we introduce a generic framework that developers can use to design usability tests. This is enabled by using common vocabulary for description of usability test models and human models. Basic principles of the proposed approach are given in brief. As an example, we give formal model of human working memory that can be used in design of various cognitive load metrics.