Usability and Internet-based banking

Abstract

Usability refers to the study and measurement of the quality of human-computer interaction. Internet-based banking is a task-oriented, goal-directed, Web-based, E-commerce application where users access and manipulate bank accounts remotely through a Web browser interface. The examination of the usability of this interaction through the distributed medium of the Internet formed the research basis. The aims of the research are to review the application of general usability principles and properties to Internet-based banking, examine existing usability guidelines for hypermedia and Web design, and apply these during a structured evaluation of local and international online banking facilities. The research instrument is a combination of a checklist-based and heuristic evaluation, and is preceded by a task analysis. Three research questions are addressed and solutions suggested. These are related to improving Internet banking usability, finding the best approach for measuring this, and creating an awareness that Web usability is important.