Web-based Courseware Application Usability
Thomas Convery, Brandon Nuttall, and Bobby Bodenheimer
Abstract
Courseware packages are software applications that facilitate
distribution of information from professors to students, as well as
communication among students in a class. Most commercial off-
the-shelf courseware solutions are web-based and do not require
client-side installation of additional software packages. While the
web-based interfaces provide nearly ubiquitous access, they have
disadvantages. First, web browsers were never intended to be
application platforms. Second, a web-based interface requires that
all data processing short of the final rendering of the information
be completed on the web server that supports the application. In
the case of a courseware application, the limitations of the web-
based interface usually require that the information accessible
through the interface be divided into unnatural partitions, making
the application difficult to use to its fullest benefit. This paper
describes a new courseware interface without the problems of the
web-based paradigm. Our solution makes use of the XML User
Interface Language (XUL), which allows us to harness the power
of the client machine for tasks such as filtering and sorting of
displayed data, allowing a radical reorganization of the
presentation of data in the courseware application. We describe
our courseware solution, Theo, and present results from a
comparative user study.
Keywords: Courseware, XUL, User Interface Design
Bobby Bodenheimer 
Last modified: Wed Jun 25 14:18:22 CDT 2003