Usability

Usability is the study of how people interact with manmade objects, both physical and electronic, in order to make it easier for the goal of the interaction to be achieved. In the computer field, usability falls under the heading of human-computer interaction. In engineering, it is considered part of industrial design.

Usability looks at items from the perspective of a person trying to use them and asks: Is the user able to do what they wanted to do with it? Was it easy to figure out how to use it? Could it be made easier? What was left out?

One of the biggest components of usability is accessibility, the adaptation of products to ensure they are usable by people with various disabilities: color blindness, motion impairments, low literacy, and so forth.