Applying usability principles to the design of a web interface for the “iLab - inventory manager for electronics laboratory”

This paper presents a case study of an existing web application of inventory management for electronics laboratories, accounting for usability principles and best practices for user interface design. The iLab project efficiently manages the inventory, requests, users (borrowings, purchases, etc.) and associated historic and workflow information. This enables users to queue requests and track their statuses. Usability is critical for for the success of such application. A web based interface is to be designed using usability principles, making sure all end-users use the application in an intuitive and effective way. To achieve these goals the study consisted on four phases: plan, analyze, design and, test and refine. After this study it has been concluded that with this methodology developers are able to create more user-friendly and efficient applications.