TY - GEN
T1 - UX Testing of Developer Documentation - A pilot study of OceanBase Database Documentation
AU - Gao, Zhijun
AU - Wang, Tianshu
AU - Wang, Meina
AU - Zhang, Yunhong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.
PY - 2023/8/29
Y1 - 2023/8/29
N2 - This pilot UX study aims to establish a user experience (UX) approach for assessing the quality of developer documentation, specifically for the OceanBase database company. A usability test was designed to examine task completion rates, times, errors, and satisfaction. Additionally, biometric equipment, such as eye-tracking, EEG, facial expression recognition, and measures of visual and mental fatigue, were utilized to analyze participants' experiences. The PANAS scale was employed to collect self-reported emotions. The hybrid evaluation method revealed that the OceanBase database documentation suffers from poor usability, understanding, and findability. The root causes of these problems include weak functionality, subpar interaction design, lack of conciseness and explanation, and inadequate structure and legibility. Participants experienced negative emotions and increased mental fatigue after using the documentation, indicating a substantial cognitive load. These findings will inform future improvements to the documentation and provide a foundational UX model for developer documentation. The UX study process may also be a reference for practitioners or researchers conducting similar research on technical documents.
AB - This pilot UX study aims to establish a user experience (UX) approach for assessing the quality of developer documentation, specifically for the OceanBase database company. A usability test was designed to examine task completion rates, times, errors, and satisfaction. Additionally, biometric equipment, such as eye-tracking, EEG, facial expression recognition, and measures of visual and mental fatigue, were utilized to analyze participants' experiences. The PANAS scale was employed to collect self-reported emotions. The hybrid evaluation method revealed that the OceanBase database documentation suffers from poor usability, understanding, and findability. The root causes of these problems include weak functionality, subpar interaction design, lack of conciseness and explanation, and inadequate structure and legibility. Participants experienced negative emotions and increased mental fatigue after using the documentation, indicating a substantial cognitive load. These findings will inform future improvements to the documentation and provide a foundational UX model for developer documentation. The UX study process may also be a reference for practitioners or researchers conducting similar research on technical documents.
KW - Developer documentation
KW - usability testing
KW - user experience
KW - n/a OA procedure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172387715&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ProComm57838.2023.00035
DO - 10.1109/ProComm57838.2023.00035
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85172387715
T3 - IEEE International Professional Communication Conference
SP - 64
EP - 72
BT - 2023 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, ProComm 2023
PB - IEEE
T2 - IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, ProComm 2023
Y2 - 17 July 2023 through 20 July 2023
ER -