Preface

Software usability should be central to any software development, especially when it comes to software that is going to be used by people. What, if not the *ease of use* of technology, could be a sign of its purpose and intent to help and assist humans?

We can all agree that software usability is not yet at the fore of every development project. For far too long, technology has come first, solving problems indeed, but far too often *forcing* users to do so in certain ways, often designed without the involvement of said users.

For this book, we set out to put together a collection of high-quality contributions that could help broaden developers' and non-developers' minds alike when it comes to considering software usability. Approachable and easy to understand, this volume presents novel research and experiences in the field of software usability. We hope readers, who may not be software *makers* but who are undoubtedly software *users*, will find the information contained herein accessible and useful.

> **Drs. Laura M. Castro and David Cabrero** Department of Computer Science and Information Technologies, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

> > **Dr. Rüdiger Heimgärtner** Intercultural User Interface Consulting, Berlin, Germany

Section 1
