Um projeto de interface para ferramentas de modelagem UML baseadas em Eclipse

Abstract

Evidence shows that Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools are often more feature-oriented than easy-to-use, being difficult for using, learning, and mastering. This paper describes some usability issues in modeling CASE tools that use the Unified Modeling Language (UML), based on the Eclipse platform, and reports the prototyping and evaluation of a user interface design to improve usability in these tools. The objective of this work is to develop a prototype for CASE tools for UML modeling based on the Eclipse platform, using strategies that improve usability. A research in the specialized literature was used as a search method to identify usability problems that developers face in using the CASE tools for UML modeling. The results of this research suggest several problems in user interfaces, such as the representation of functionalities and the complexity of user interfaces. To develop the prototype, the techniques of textit card sorting, prototyping and usability testing with users were used. From the execution of the card sorting, with seven students of the undergraduate program in Software Engineering from UNIPAMPA, the architecture of the first prototype was obtained. With the resulting card sorting architecture, a user interface for UML modeling CASE tools was prototyped, using the paper prototyping technique and the Axure tool to create a functional prototype. The prototype was evaluated by students of the Software Engineering and Computer Science. This program evaluation was a usability test in which the evaluators performed some tasks. From the usability test it was possible to analyze the interaction of the evaluators with the prototype. The results of the usability test demonstrate that the lack of knowledge about the icons of a tool makes their use very difficult. There was also a divergence among evaluators about where a menu should be positioned and none of the evaluators could perform the first task involving a new modeling method. Prototyping user interfaces improves some usability issues and helps create more usable software development environments. The result of this work is a user interface prototype for CASE tools for UML modeling prototyped and evaluated by students in the field of computing, which can serve as a guide for the development of new modeling tools.