Practitioners in usability and user-centered design (UCD) employ a wide range of methods for gathering information about users and their tasks, analyzing needs, creating design solutions, iterating designs through testing and evaluation, and measuring efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.

This section of the Usability BoK presents descriptions of methods, including procedures, resources needed, outcomes, appropriate uses, benefits, and costs. These descriptions form the core of a knowledge base that defines our field. They also help communicate usability methods to clients, project managers, and team members. Usability practitioners will also benefit from cross-referencing of related methods and pointers to outside resources for more details.