Explain the importance of Usability

Question

a) Explain the importance of Usability. Define human implication for understanding the usability of computer system during designing phase.

b) You have been assigned responsibility for designing the user interface of a new version of the government web facility for taxpayers, to submit their income tax returns online.

Human Computer Interaction Course (HCI)

Answer 1

Usability is just how easily people can actually do what they came to do — finish the task, not get stuck, not feel stupid. It matters because when something's hard to use, people give up, call support, or blame the company (or in this case, the government). Coming from mobile and XR, I've learned this the hard way: you can't treat the person on the other end as someone who'll figure it out. They've got limited attention, they're often distracted, they're holding the device one-handed on a train, and they're bringing expectations from every other app they've ever used. If your design fights any of that, you lose them. That's why the user stuff — research, prototypes, testing with actual people — has to happen early, not after you've already built the thing.

For an online tax return site, the audience is basically everyone: first-time filers, retirees, gig workers, people with disabilities, people whose first language isn't English — and most of them are stressed out before they even open the page. I'd build it as a guided interview rather than a wall of forms: ask simple questions, only show the sections that apply, save constantly so people can come back later, and pre-fill anything the government already knows (employer income, last year's info) so users just confirm instead of retyping. Plain language everywhere, with the technical term available if someone wants it. Inline checks that catch mistakes as they happen instead of yelling at people on submit. I'd also push hard on the things desktop-first teams tend to forget: it has to work great one-handed on a cheap phone over bad reception, tap targets need to be forgiving, and any animation or transition should help people understand where they are in the flow, not just look cool. Accessibility (screen readers, contrast, keyboard nav), multiple languages, and a paper option for anyone who can't or won't go digital are non-negotiable. Test it iteratively with real users — especially older folks, people with low literacy, and people with disabilities — and hold it to one bar: someone with no accounting background should be able to file a correct return on their phone, in one sitting, without being scared.