Système de listes de vérification interactives du niveau de conformité des maquettes avec les recommandations des fabricants de plateformes mobiles

The need for mobile platforms has increased in the last decade. Companies offering traditional internet services now want to move their applications on these new devices. But, most of the time, these companies do not really have the knowledge to create such applications and often ask a third party company to do the job for them. In this context, it is difficult to evaluate if the solution developed follows the recommendations of the device maker. A system based on interactive check lists has thus been created for this purpose. This system enables the evaluation of the conformity level of an application with the recommendations of the device maker, thanks to numerous filters that let the user focus on specific parts of the graphic interface. The idea behind the project was first to address some problematic issues with classical check lists and to enable the comparison of several mobile platforms with regard to specific interface components. To create this system, a lot of information about mobile platforms has first been collected. After reviewing many mobile platforms, it was decided to focus on iOS and BlackBerry, since the company where the research was performed had already applications running on them. For each platform, the major recommandations to be satisfied were identified. Also, to be sure that the extracted recommendations could be compared, a common nomenclature has been created, where the recommandations are grouped by interface components (ex: bars, data input,…) and by the type of interaction (ex: touch screen). After these preliminary steps, a solution for evaluating the level of compliance was created. We favored a check list approach because it offers a systematic evaluation process. To avoid lists of excessive length, filters were introduced in the system to allow the user to focus on particular aspects of the interface. The implementation was totally realized with open source technologies and open standards. This choice was motivated by the portability of the developed system and by the absence of licence fees. The system relies on web standards and runs on an architecture made of the CNU/Linux operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database and the script language PHP. This software has already proven its reliability for enterprises and for home users. Furthermore, the community evolving around this software offers a good support and ensures a high level of stability. After setting up the development environment, the implementation phase was engaged and took place over a number of phases. The first phase was the creation of the database structure, using the aforementioned nomenclature. The next phase was dedicated to the coding of the different web pages, thanks to the tag language HTML and the PHP scripts on the server side and JavaScript on the client side. Finally, the web page setting was developed using the cascading style sheet (CSS), a web technology that segregates the substance from the style of the web content. We chose an iterative development model where the end users were involved from the early stages of the project. This approach provides a guarantee that the user requirements are fulfilled and that any new developments will be in accordance with the expectations. Furthermore, the system is such that it can be easily modified to tackle future needs. To be able to understand how we use the systeme, we are reviewing the different steps needed to realise an evaluation. Finally, we have made a study with four users to evaluate the usability of the system and to gather their satisfaction level.

Keyphrases: Check lists, mobile platforms, ergonomic recommendations