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UX Atlas
TermCraft conventionFoundational

Usability

Whether people can actually do what they came to do, without too much trouble.

Definition

The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context, as defined in ISO 9241-11.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

In plain language

Whether people can actually do what they came to do, without too much trouble.

Example

A checkout with a 94 percent completion rate and an average time of 90 seconds is more usable than one at 71 percent and four minutes, for the same task.

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Deeper reading

The full entry behind this definition.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.

Nearby in the Atlas

Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.