Usability engineering

Usability engineering is a field of computer science concerned with the question of how to design software that is easy to use. It is closely related to the field of human-computer interaction and industrial design. See also usability, usability testing.

Among the leading proponents of this field of study are Donald Norman and Jakob Nielsen. Nielsen has written a book on the subject, aptly titled Usability Engineering, which was published in 1994.

The subject is considered of sufficient importance that a number of universities include a usability engineering course as part of the computer science curriculum.