Usability testing guide for mobile applications focused on people with down syndrome (usatestdown)

Resumen

The usability testing of mobile applications involving persons with Down syndrome is an issue that has not be comprehensively investigated and there is no single proposal that takes on board all the issues that could be taken into account . This study aims to propose a practical guide ¨USATESTDOWN¨ to evaluate the usability of mobile applications focusing on Down syndrome users and their primary limitations. The study starts with an analysis of existing methodologies and tools to evaluate usability and integrates concepts related to inspection and inquiry methods into a proposal. The proposal includes the opinions of experts and representative users; their limitations, the applicability during the development process and the accessibility. This guide is based on the literature review and the author’s experience in several workshops where 108 persons with Down syndrome used mobile devices with specifics software applications to evaluate different skills and parameters. After we created the guide we evaluated this with an iterative process with different tools and special Centre to people with Down syndrome. As a result of this process we have a robust guide adapted especially to the reality and needs of people with DS.