Automatic usability evaluation of GUI: A front-side approach using no source code information

The usability of a software system and especially of its user interface now has become crucial and decisive for the success of the application itself. The usability evaluation can be performed by several techniques: classical methods such as tests are performed by experts or end users tester. These approaches require long and expensive testing phases. For this reason, in recent years there has been a rapid spread of automatic tools of evaluation, which allow achieving more objectives in a simple, rapid and economical manner. In this work, we describe an approach to evaluate the usability of a GUI analyzing only its graphical output. The implemented tool allows measuring any usability metrics of usability of the graphical interface of an application using a front-size technique that adopts image processing algorithms to identify and classify the interface components and an automatic interaction system to analyze the dynamic mechanisms. The approach is illustrated using the example of the analysis of a web interface.