Usability heuristics for the set‐top box and TV interfaces

Abstract

Set-top box (STB) is a special interface device that is connected to a TV and allows digital content to be received, decoded, and displayed on the TV. The new features added to STB&TVs increase the complexity of the systems and lead to usability problems. This study proposes a set of usability heuristics and their corresponding criteria specific to STB&TV interfaces that usability experts may use during the design and evaluation process. In this study, a total of 493 usability problems were collected from three sources: problems identified by software developers during the design and development phase, problems identified by three experts with cognitive walkthrough approach, and problems collected from customer complaints made to the service or call center. Then, each heuristics' checklist item was rated by the experts for how well they explain the usability problems, and the severity levels of the usability problems were determined. In the next step, through correspondence and cluster analyses, heuristics and the checklists were listed in descending order of severity. Furthermore, the proposed heuristic list was validated with three methods-user testing, expert judgment, and heuristic evaluation. As a result of this study, 16 usability heuristics were identified. Five of these heuristics-Visibility of system status (H4), Pleasurable and respectful interaction with the user (H13), Privacy (H14), Parental control (H15), and Easy access (H16) are related to catastrophic usability problems.

Perspectives on the Design, Challenges, and Evaluation of Smart TV User Interfaces

“…Still, they do not fulfil the requirements of each individual. Furthermore, each Moreover, various methods and guidelines have been proposed to overcome the usability, UX, and accessibility issues of smart TV [13,14,[23][24][25][26]. Still, they usually focused on solving UI's general problems for all users and not designing and creating adaptivity in the UI for a specific user.…”

“…e diversification of the contents and advanced functionalities of a smart TV added more to enjoyment. However, such diversity and enrichments of features bring more complexities in UIs [13,14]. In contrast, accessing and switching channels on traditional TV through remote control were not a cumbersome job [13].…”

“…In this race, the vendors and companies regularly update and enrich the features and functionalities of their operating systems, home screen launchers, and hardware [15]. However, this extra day-byday enrichment of functions and features in smart TV operating systems creates usability issues, unpleasant UX, cognitive overload, and learnability issues [14,18]. According to the Statista Research Department report, in 2018, Android was the world's leading smart TV operating system with a market share of about 40%.…”

“…Different approaches such as online survey, thinkingaloud methods [11,20], model-based automated approach, dairy approach, user-centered approach [21], analytical approach, and laboratory approach have been used to evaluate consumer usage habits, attitudes, and interactions to gather comprehensive data from smart TV UX [14,22] for the enhancement of user interfaces. However, smart TV is an emerging device with complex interactions and supports various functions and features [4].…”

The Walkthrough Method

“…In particular, they carried out observations of about 3 weeks in different stations, they counted the actual use of the machines for the total number of failures at the first attempt of use, and finally the critical points were identified through interviews with users in difficulty. Finally, by drawing up the list of critical problems observed and not, it was possible to understand what the usability problems were (Kaya et al, 2021).…”