Supporting mobile applications developer through Java IDE using contextual inquiry

Abstract

Contextual Inquiry (CI) is a method developed by Beyer and Holtzblatt for grounding design in the context of work being performed by user(s). This paper is about identifying ways of improving the usability of Java Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for developing mobile applications. Described is the approach of this method to support mobile application developers, through the use of an IDE (NetBeans IDE in the context of this research). CI provides useful data on the typical problems found in various tools for developing mobile applications on which our design ideas were based. The data that was collected from this method was subjected to further analysis and quantification, beyond what Beyer and Holtzblatt suggested as well as a way to defend the potential usefulness of mobile IDE for mobile applications development