A usability model for mobile applications generated with a model-driven approach

Usability evaluation of mobile applications (referred to as apps) is an emerging research area in the field of Software Engineering. Several research studies have focused their interest on the challenge of usability evaluation in mobile context. Typically, the usability is measured once the mobile apps is implemented. At this stage of the development process, it is costly to go back and makes the required changes in the design in order to overcome usability problems. Model-driven Engineering (MDE) was proven as a promising solution for this problem. In such approach, a model can be build and analyzed early in the design cycle to identify key characteristics like usability. The traceability established between this model and the final application by means of model transformation plays a key role to preserve its usability or even improve it. This paper attempts to review existing usability studies and subsequently propose a usability model for conducting early usability evaluation for mobile apps generated with an MDE tool. © 2013 The Science and Information (SAI) Organization.