A study on how usability flaws in GUI design increase mouse movements and consequently may affect users' health

The objective of this study is to discuss how software usability flaws may cause a significant increase in mouse movements and, as a potential side effect, may even affect users' health. During the literature review, this article examines the potential relationship between mouse movement and musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremity, based on studies from medical sciences. Subsequently, in the main part of the present study, three software products were selected that had at least one usability flaw related to extra mouse movement (the selection of the software was made out of over 20 software programs that had been evaluated in our Software Quality Assessment Laboratory). For these products, all additional mouse movements were measured, involving actual users in various settings and computer configurations. The findings showed that even a single usability flaw may increase mouse movement to a magnitude of between 3.6 and 4.7 m/h. The article concludes that the role of software engineering is to focus on software usability as well, taking into account that a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) which is able to eliminate unnecessary mouse movement may also eventually contribute to the reduction of fatigue and discomfort, caused by musculoskeletal disorders.

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