User interface design practice for web sites and web-based applications in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Science in Information Systems at Massey University

Abstract

The research regarding user interface design practices for Web sites and Web-based applications revealed that there is very little awareness in the industry in New Zealand of usability issues. There is general lack of education, knowledge, and skills in usability methods, processes, and techniques amongst designers and developers. Generally speaking universities in New Zealand have not kept up with global changes in human - computer interaction (HCI) education. Most universities in New Zealand offer one or two HCI courses within their information technology undergraduate degree programmes, and those are not compulsory for students to study. Conversely, HCI has become a major area of study in universities from Australia, US, and the UK where usability is a major industrial concern. One possible reason for this is that New Zealand universities do not offer cognitive psychology and social science courses with information technology major to make HCI courses more relevant for students who study HCI.