Usability Work in Professional Website Design: Insights from Practitioners' Perspectives

Abstract

This exploratory study aims to gain insight into how usability practitioners
work in professional web design. This is done through interviews and a
grounded analysis. The description reported here refers to the wider influence
of the commercial context on usability work. This brings to the fore
such issues as: the client?s influence on work, negotiation between clients
and practitioners, the adaptation and use of methods, practitioner expertise
and the consideration of ?people? in the usability process. It is believed that
this research focus, which moves toward wider issues in practice, is best
conceptualised from a system level perspective where the goal is to coordinate
resources to add value to the design process.