Set‐top box (STB) is a special interface device that is connected to a TV and allows digital content to be received, decoded, and displayed on the TV. The new features added to STB&TVs increase the complexity of the systems and lead to usability problems. This study proposes a set of usability heuristics and their corresponding criteria specific to STB&TV interfaces that usability experts may use during the design and evaluation process. In this study, a total of 493 usability problems were collected from three sources: problems identified by software developers during the design and development phase, problems identified by three experts with cognitive walkthrough approach, and problems collected from customer complaints made to the service or call center. Then, each heuristics' checklist item was rated by the experts for how well they explain the usability problems, and the severity levels of the usability problems were determined. In the next step, through correspondence and cluster analyses, heuristics and the checklists were listed in descending order of severity. Furthermore, the proposed heuristic list was validated with three methods—user testing, expert judgment, and heuristic evaluation. As a result of this study, 16 usability heuristics were identified. Five of these heuristics—Visibility of system status (H4), Pleasurable and respectful interaction with the user (H13), Privacy (H14), Parental control (H15), and Easy access (H16) are related to catastrophic usability problems.

中文翻译：

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机顶盒和电视接口的可用性试探法

机顶盒（STB）是一种特殊的接口设备，已连接到电视，并允许在电视上接收，解码和显示数字内容。机顶盒和电视的新功能增加了系统的复杂性，并导致可用性问题。这项研究提出了一组特定于STB＆TV界面的可用性启发式方法及其相应标准，可用性专家可以在设计和评估过程中使用这些启发式方法。在这项研究中，总共从三个来源收集了493个可用性问题：软件开发人员在设计和开发阶段确定的问题，三位专家采用认知演练方法确定的问题以及从客户对服务或呼叫提出的投诉中收集的问题中央。然后，每个启发式 专家对清单项进行了评估，以评估其对可用性问题的解释程度，并确定可用性问题的严重性级别。下一步，通过对应关系和聚类分析，以严重程度从高到低的顺序列出试探法和清单。此外，通过三种方法（用户测试，专家判断和启发式评估）验证了提议的启发式列表。这项研究的结果是，确定了16种可用性启发式方法。这些启发式方法中的五个-系统状态的可见性（H4），与用户的愉悦而尊重的交互（H13），隐私（H14），家长控制（H15）和轻松访问（H16）与灾难性的可用性问题相关。通过对应关系和聚类分析，试探法和检查表以严重性从高到低的顺序列出。此外，通过三种方法（用户测试，专家判断和启发式评估）验证了提议的启发式列表。这项研究的结果是，确定了16种可用性启发式方法。这些启发式方法中的五个-系统状态的可见性（H4），与用户的愉悦而尊重的交互（H13），隐私（H14），家长控制（H15）和轻松访问（H16）与灾难性的可用性问题相关。通过对应关系和聚类分析，试探法和检查表以严重性从高到低的顺序列出。此外，通过三种方法（用户测试，专家判断和启发式评估）验证了提议的启发式列表。这项研究的结果是，确定了16种可用性启发式方法。这些启发式方法中的五个-系统状态的可见性（H4），与用户的愉悦而尊重的交互（H13），隐私（H14），家长控制（H15）和轻松访问（H16）与灾难性的可用性问题相关。