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Real flight is cognitively demanding; accordingly, both indicators and display panel layout should be user-friendly to improve pilot-aircraft interaction. Poor pilot-interface interactions in aircrafts could result in accidents. Although a general reason of accidents is improper displays, relatively few studies were conducted on interfaces. This study aims to present an optimization model to create intuitively integrated user-friendly cockpit interfaces.

Subjectivity within most usability evaluation techniques could bring about interface design problems. A priori information about indicator’s possible locations may be available or unavailable. Thus different analytical approaches must be applied for modifications and new interface designs. Relative layout design (RLD) model was developed and used in new interface designs to optimize locations of indicators. This model was based on layout optimization and constructed in accordance with design requirements, ergonomic considerations with the pilot preferences. RLD model optimizes interface design by deploying indicators to the best locations to improve usability of display panel, pilot-aircraft interaction and flight safety.

Optimum interfaces for two problem instances were gathered by RLD model in 15.77 CPU(s) with 10 indicators and 542.51 CPU(s) with 19 indicators. A comparison between relative and existing cockpit interfaces reveals that locations of six navigation and four mechanical system indicators are different. The differences may stem from pilots’ preferences and relativity constraints. Both interfaces are more similar for the central part of the display panel. The objective function value of relative interface design (Opt: 527938) is far better than existing interface (737100). The RLD model improved usability of existing interface (28.61 per cent considering decrease in the objective function values from 737100 to 527938.

Future cockpit and new helicopter interface designs may involve RLD model as an alternative interface design tool. Furthermore, other layout optimization problems, e.g. circuit boards, microchips and engines, etc. could be handled in a more realistic manner by RLD model.

Originality and impact of this study related to development and employment of a new optimization model (RLD) on cockpit interface design for the first time. Engineering requirements, human factors, ergonomics and pilots’ preferences are simultaneously considered in the RLD model. The subjectivity within usability evaluation techniques could be diminished in this way. The contributions of RLD model to classical facility layout models are relativity constraints with the physical constrictions and ergonomic objective function weights. Novelty of this paper is the development and employment of a new optimization model (RLD) to locate indicators.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of mobile learning platforms on users' study efficiency and develop cognitive indicators to evaluate users' study efficiency on mobile learning platforms.

Layout style was the only independent factor that was investigated. A between-group experimental design was employed. Eye movement data were recorded during the experiment, following which participants were asked to complete an after-scenario questionnaire. This study evaluated the usability of the proposed new design using both subjective and objective data. The computer system usability questionnaire V3 (CSUQ) was used to measure subjective data. For the eye-tracking measure, gaze entropy, the proportion of fixation count and duration of each AOI were calculated. Gaze entropy reflects the complexity of information organization. Fixation counts and AOI duration represent the difficulty of information processing and attention distribution, respectively during the task.

The results indicated that interface layout presents significant effects on user's learning efficiency, usability and cognitive load. Sequential layout improved efficiency and satisfaction among participants and reduced information complexity. The results provided useful insights for designers whose goal is to improve user's learning efficiency under mobile learning scheme.

This study investigated the effects of interface layout on usability, user performance and cognitive load using subjective ratings and eye-tracking technology. Gaze entropy was used to measure the complexity of information organized by the interface design. Fixation count and duration proportion were used to identify the difficulty of information processing and distinguish users' distribution of cognitive resources. The results indicated that a vertical layout panel design was more efficient than a horizontal layout panel design. The design implications of the eye tracking indicators and research results were then summarized. This study is expected to encourage designers to optimize their design proposals using eye tracking testing.

The rapid growth of m-commerce and mobile marketing has flooded the users with homogeneous contents that raise little user interest making the users' browsing pattern on these contents aimless free browsing. However, the interface that presents the mobile marketing contents triggers much user attention, especially the layout. Without significant usability defects, the layout poses influences on the user's aesthetic experience. Identifying the layout attributes that affect user aesthetic preference is critical to the design of mobile marketing interfaces since they influence users' interaction intention, cognitive process, and decision-making.

In this paper, 6 layout attributes that quantify the aesthetic design of the interface layout and 3 eye-movement indicators that connect to human aesthetic preference were identified through literature research. An eye-tracking experiment measuring the 3 eye-movement indicators on 6 pairs of interface layout materials corresponding to the 6 layout attributes was conducted. The experiment was designed to mimic the free browsing context in mobile marketing. The materials were divided into Liked/Disliked preference groups according to the response of the subjects. Analysis of indicators on materials between the L/D groups shows that the attributes of balance, centricity, density, simplicity, and symmetry affect user aesthetic preferences.

Analysis of the attribute value levels shows that balance, centricity, and density are responsible for addressing users' aesthetic preferences for a disliked interface layout. The study suggests an attribute set for quantitatively optimizing the aesthetic design of mobile marketing system interfaces and provides evidence for the visual attention and cognitive process under the free browsing context.

The study contributes to the field both theoretically and practically: (1) it provides support for optimizing the interface layout of mobile marketing systems quantitatively from the aesthetic perspective. (2) It promotes the cognitive attention theory by providing evidence for the cognitive process of interacting with mobile marketing interfaces from the perspective of visual attention and cognitive fluency. (3) It expands the objects of visual perception from traditional or symbolic artworks (such as logos) to the abstract visual stimuli of interface layout. (4) It suggests an optimization tool of five quantification layout attributes for mobile marketing businesses and platforms to aesthetically improve their marketing interfaces to improve user experiences.

Targeting the common functions of the Zhejiang Library website, elderly individuals were invited to complete six experimental tasks on the improved website interfaces, and subjective data (PAD emotion scale and usability evaluation) and objective data (eye movement data) were recorded to verify the effects of graphic layout and navigation position on the information-seeking experience of elderly individuals.

This study analyzes the effect of the graphic layout and navigation position of the Zhejiang Library’s website interface on the emotional state, perceived usability and information-seeking time of elderly individuals, with the aim of providing guidance and suggestions for the elderly-oriented reform of the public library website.

The experimental results show that the graphic layout has a significant effect on the emotional state and perceived usability of elderly individuals, and the navigation position has a significant effect on the information-seeking time; the interaction between graphic layout and navigation position exerts a significant effect on the information-seeking time of elderly individuals. The eye movement data show that elderly individuals have a better information-seeking experience when the top navigation bar and image-text matched arrangement are used for the interface layout.

This study adopts a new approach combining subjective data and eye movement data to evaluate the effect of the public library website’s interface layout on the information-seeking experience for older people. The findings can provide a theoretical basis and methodological support for the elderly-oriented reform of public library websites. They can also provide scientific design suggestions for age-friendly interface layouts of other Internet products and service applications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore an evaluation approach and to develop a model of web site evaluation that includes the specification of evaluation criteria, key issues to discuss and recommendations for improving the web site – in this case, that of the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto (CSPC‐T).

The research consisted of three phases: phase 1 involved selection of the general evaluation criteria for web sites, based on a review of the literature plus the collection of factual data on information systems related to the CSPC‐T web site; phase 2 included a step‐by‐step evaluation of the existing CSPC‐T web site based on the general criteria presented in phase 1; and phase 3 provided recommendations in association with the key issues identified in phase 2 in order to improve the CSPC‐T web site, and developed the key components of the evaluation model.

The evaluation of the CSPC‐T web site found mostly positive results in terms of the content of the site and its ability to deliver information to the residents and local communities of Toronto. However, the design of the web site had some negative points requiring improvement, including site structure, page layout and interface design.

The paper demonstrates a step‐by‐step, practical evaluation of community web sites. The research provided a detailed report to CSPC‐T about its existing web site. This should be useful to CSPC‐T in considering how to improve its web site or whether to redesign it to deliver information and services more effectively.

This paper contributes to the knowledge base in the fields of community networks and web site evaluation, and to the improvement of the quality of information and service delivery to local communities via the web.

Designing an effective university mobile website is becoming a necessity for universities. With the increasing percentage of students using smart phones to research colleges and universities, many university websites worldwide are moving towards addressing mobile needs. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive mobile university evaluation framework that can be used to assess how universities' websites respond to the increasing demand for the mobile web, and also to identify trends and gaps in current services provided in universities' mobile websites.

A framework was developed and applied to a set of 35 universities' mobile websites worldwide. The framework consists of four categories: interface, navigation, content and services offered, and technical aspects.

Evaluation findings show that most universities' mobile websites performed well in terms of mobile-friendliness and functionality; however, suggestions for future improvements are given.

No previous evaluation studies of this kind have been conducted. Moreover, this study provides an evaluation framework dedicated to the assessment of universities' mobile websites.

Guidelines for the design of knowledge-based e-learning usability systems are absent from the current recognized set of usability design heuristics and from an established evaluation methodology of e-learning system developments. Such systems can help Web designers and instructional designers design for different user needs and decide which properties are of a higher priority, thus meriting more design and development efforts. The authors aim to help students develop higher-order thinking skills, such as application, evaluation and syntheses of knowledge.

The authors applied Merrill ' s first principles of instruction and usability properties as pedagogical and usability design guidelines, knowledge management (KM) and hierarchical task analysis as methodological knowledge bases. The authors proposed a KM e-learning usability framework which frames our mapping of Web usability attributes to e-learning usability properties. The authors aim to investigate whether adopting Merrill ' s first principles of instruction and usability properties as knowledge-based guidelines/design factors would help learners develop higher-order thinking skills and whether this design would result in positive technology acceptance. The authors also developed a method matrix to map the selected methods of cognitive engineering to its potential uses in the KM e-learning usability framework of this paper and mapped e-learning usability tools with components in the KM e-learning usability system.

Findings indicated that our design effectively helped learners to demonstrate higher-order thinking skills and positive technology acceptance, promising indications toward the design and development of knowledge-based usability frameworks and systems.

The sample size of this paper is small. Hence, conclusions are not generalizable at this moment.

The authors’ contributions are twofold: First, the authors proposed a KM e-learning usability framework, which frames the mapping of KM processes to e-learning principles and usability properties. Second, the authors proposed a method matrix which maps the selected methods of cognitive engineering to its potential uses in their KM e-learning usability framework. Based on these mappings and focusing on the usability properties navigation and learning support, the authors used ICT/Web2.0 tools to present/visualize information more clearly and more sensibly/manageably to students, to help trigger new knowledge and develop higher-order thinking skills, such as application, evaluation and syntheses of knowledge and articulate information from different perspectives throughout the KM life cycle.

The purpose of this paper is to construct an indicator framework for evaluating open health data portals from the perspective of user experience (UX) to reduce users’ learning costs, save their time and energy and strengthen the emotional connection with users, thereby encouraging them to actively use open health data.

This study uses card sorting, Delphi and analytic hierarchy process to determine the weights of indicators for evaluating open health data portals. Then, this study uses a coding method to score, evaluate and compare the selection of more than 120 open health data portals supported by organizations in more than 100 countries or regions that are in the World's top confirmed cases of COVID-19 as released by the World Health Organization.

At present, open health data portals have shortcomings with regard to UX. Different types of open health data portals vary significantly in the dimensions of technical experience and functional experience, but the differences in the dimensions of aesthetic experience, emotional experience and content experience are not significant.

The constructed open health data portal evaluation indicator framework introduces users' actual application needs and proposes optimization suggestions for the portal to meet the needs of users to quickly obtain, reliable and accurate health data.

In this study, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach for evaluating airworthiness factors were presented. The purpose of this study is to develop an acceptable rationale for operational activities in civil and military aviation and for design, production and maintenance activities in the aviation industry that can be used in-flight safety programs and evaluations.

In aviation, while the initial and continuing airworthiness of aircraft is related to technical airworthiness, identifying and minimizing risks for avoiding losses and damages are related to operational airworthiness. Thus, the airworthiness factors in civil and military aviation were evaluated under these two categories as the technical and operational airworthiness factors by the analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process. Three technical and five operational airworthiness criteria for civil aviation, three technical and nine operational airworthiness criteria for military aviation were defined, evaluated, prioritized and compared in terms of flight safety.

The most important technical factor is the “airworthiness status of the aircraft” both in civil (81.9%) and military (77.6%) aviation, which means that aircraft should initially be designed for safety. The most significant operational factors are the “air traffic control system” in civil (30.9%) and “threat” in the military (26.6%) aviation. The differences within factor weights may stem from the design requirements and acceptable safety levels (frequency of occurrences 1 in 10⁷ in military and 1 in 10⁹ in civil aircraft design) of civil and military aircraft with the mission achievement requirements in civil and military aviation operations. The damage acceptance criteria for civil and military aircraft are different. The operation risks are accepted in the military and acceptance of specific tasks and the risk levels can vary with aircraft purpose and type.

This study provides an acceptable rationale for safety programs and evaluations in aviation activities. The results of this study can be used in real-world airworthiness applications and safety management by the aviation industry and furthermore, critical factor weights should be considered both in civil and military aviation operations and flights. The safety levels of airlines with respect to our airworthiness factor weights or the safety level of military operations can be computed.

This is the first study considering technical and operational airworthiness factors as an MCDM problem. Originality and value of this paper are defining critical airworthiness factors for civil and military aviation, ranking these factors, revealing the most important ones and using MCDM methods for the evaluations of airworthiness factors for the first time. In civil aviation flight safety is the basic tenet of airworthiness activities in risk analysis, on the other hand in military aviation high levels of risks are to be avoided in peace training or operational tasks. However, even high risks have to be accepted during the war, if the operational requirements impose, as mission achievement is vital. The paper is one of a kind on airworthiness evaluations for flight safety.

A surge of library activities and technological advances have increased the demand for data accuracy and agility among library clientele. Therefore, novel approaches are needed to extend library services. This paper aims to introduce the implementation of a prototype mobile library application (app) designed using an in-house open source system, Koha.

This paper presents a case study using a metamorphosis process to create mobile apps. This case study is tested based on the library services with a set of activities during the system acceptance test (SAT) and also user acceptance test (UAT). An application programming interface (API) used to support two-way communication, including system-to-component and system-to-system connectivity. The design, features and advantages of this mobile app are discussed, illustrated and analyzed. The case study reports the mobile app version development from the Koha Open Source Library Information System.

The app was tested using user acceptance test (UAT) and system acceptance test (SAT) by library staffs who found it functional, accessible, appealing and useful. Features such as Online Public Access Catalog search, library collection scanning, patron accounts, patron personal book collection, circulation, librarian chat, QR codes for borrowing books, social media integration and notifications of library activities and events were successfully tested. This process was useful for the creation of a mobile app based on the existing library System-Koha Open Source System.

This study is limited to a case study of a national university in Malaysia.

This study has some practical implications for implementing library mobile applications, e.g. it will encourage librarians to implement library applications in libraries.

This study is useful for mobile developers and libraries that plan to offer mobile library services to their patrons. This paper presents a case study of metamorphosis existing process of library open source System-Koha Open Source System.