To realize usability in software, GUI (Graphical User Interface) layouts must be consistent because consistency allows end users to operate software based on previous experiences. Often consistency can be achieved by user interface guidelines, which realize consistency in a software package as well as between various software packages within a platform. Because end users have different experiences and perceptions, GUIs based on guidelines are not always usable for end users. Thus, it is necessary to realize consistency without guidelines. Herein we propose a method to realize consistent GUIs where existing software packages are surveyed and common patterns for window layouts, which we call layout rules, are specified. Our method uses these layout rules to arrange the windows of GUIs. Concretely, source programs of developed GUIs are analyzed to identify the layout rules, and then these rules are used to extract parameters to generate source programs of undeveloped GUIs. To evaluate our method, we applied it to existing GUIs in software packages to extract the layout rules from several windows and to generate other windows. The evaluation confirms that our method easily realizes layout consistency.

Computers and software have become necessities in human society, and most people are required to be able to use them. However, software is not always accessible for users with special needs, and it is difficult to develop software accessible to such users. There are many guidelines and support tools for developing accessible websites. For software, however, such guidelines and support tools are few. In our research, to develop accessible software easily we propose a method of evaluating the accessibility of Graphical User Interface (GUI) software. This method involves analyzing GUI software source programs, assessing accessibility on the basis of accessibility guidelines, and presenting a list of unsatisfactory accessibility code and indicating how to modify it.

To develop usable software, it is necessary to develop Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) in iterative steps, such as evaluating the usability of GUIs and improving GUIs. In improving GUIs, developers are often required to modify both the GUI and the logic code of the software. In our research, to facilitate GUI improvement, we propose a method of automatically searching for code to be modified and suggesting how to modify them. To search for appropriate code to be modified, we define the roles of widgets according to their purpose and the patterns for how to change GUIs. In our method, how to change GUIs is specified, and then the parts of source programs that are required to be modified are searched for. Also, we classify methods for each widget according to their functions. Using this classification, a method of modifying the code that is searched for is suggested.

Requirements are elicited step by step during the requirements engineering (RE) process. However, some types of requirements are elicited completely after the scheduled requirements elicitation process is finished. Such a situation is regarded as problematic situation. In our study, the difficulties of eliciting various kinds of requirements is observed by components. We refer to the components as observation targets (OTs) and introduce the word “Requirements maturation.” It means when and how requirements are elicited completely in the project. The requirements maturation is discussed on physical and logical OTs. OTs Viewed from a logical viewpoint are called logical OTs, e.g. quality requirements. The requirements of physical OTs, e.g., modules, components, subsystems, etc., includes functional and non-functional requirements. They are influenced by their requesters' environmental changes, as well as developers' technical changes. In order to infer the requirements maturation period of each OT, we need to know how much these factors influence the OTs' requirements maturation. According to the observation of actual past projects, we defined the PRINCE (Pre Requirements Intelligence Net Consideration and Evaluation) model. It aims to guide developers in their observation of the requirements maturation of OTs. We quantitatively analyzed the actual cases with their requirements elicitation process and extracted essential factors that influence the requirements maturation. The results of interviews of project managers are analyzed by WEKA, a data mining system, from which the decision tree was derived. This paper introduces the PRINCE model and the category of logical OTs to be observed. The decision tree that helps developers infer the maturation type of an OT is also described. We evaluate the tree through real projects and discuss its ability to infer the requirements maturation types.

In recent years, not only functionality but also usability have come to be required in software. In order to develop a highly usable GUI (Graphical User Interface) application, it is effective that end users evaluate their GUI and the results of the evaluation are reflected on the original GUI. In these cases, it is necessary to replace a widget with another widget, and to reconnect the new GUI part with the original body part. When widgets are replaced, the operations are usually changed, but the roles of the GUI are seldom changed. In this research, we propose a development method for GUI applications with easy operations and also a method of automatic reconnection between GUI parts and new body parts. This reconnection is realized by classifying widgets according to their roles and by replacing methods of widgets with abstract methods categorized by common roles.

Various applications have been realized on mobile computers such as smart phones and tablet computers. Because mobile computers have smaller monitors than conventional computers, strategies to develop user interfaces differ from conventional computer applications. For example, contents in a window are reduced or divided into multiple windows on mobile computers. To realize usable applications in this situation, usability evaluations are important. Although various usability evaluation methods for mobile computers have been proposed, few evaluate applications and identify problems automatically. Herein we propose a systematic usability evaluation method. In our method, operation histories by users are recorded and analyzed to identify steps with usability problems. Our method automatically analyzes usability problems, allowing usability evaluations in software development to be implemented easily and economically. As a case study, the operation histories were recorded and analyzed when 20 subjects operated an application on a tablet computer. Our method automatically identified many usability problems, confirming its effectiveness.

Webpage texts are often emphasized by decorations such as bold, italic, underline, and text color using HTML (HyperText Markup Language) tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). However, users with visual impairment often struggle to recognize decorations appropriately because most screen readers do not read decorations appropriately. To overcome this limitation, we propose a method to read emphasized texts by changing the reading voice parameters of a screen reader and adding sound effects. First, the strong emphasis types and reading voices are investigated. Second, the intensity of the emphasis type is used to calculate a score. Then the score is used to assign the reading method for the emphasized text. Finally, the proposed method is evaluated by users with and without visual impairment. The proposed method can convey emphasized texts, but future improvements are necessary.