According to renowned usability scholar Dr. Jakob Neilsen (2003) defines the usability of a software application, personal device or appliance as a quality attribute that is comprised of five specific components including the learnability, efficiency, memorability, error handling and recovery, and overall customer satisfaction gained from using the application or device. These five components combine to create the level of usability for a given application. Dr. Neilsen focuses on the utility aspect of designs that include these five components and in much of his work has actively worked on the international standards for suability for web sites, web pages, and software applications. The emergence of international standards to address the need to synchronize website, web page, web-based applications and applications of all types across the five dimensions of usability as defined by Dr. Nielsen and others is constantly tracked by the global standards bodies of International Standards Organization (ISO) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and reported by the Usability Professionals' Association (2007). In addition major software companies have also actively building their own usability standards, including Apple and Microsoft.
             In the case of e-commerce applications where the workflows for shopping for, comparing pricing and features, then placing and tracking an order all occur within the frame of a web page, the need for usability standards and best practices is clear. The first generation of e-commerce applications, many of which were crude by today's standards, often left the online shopper abandoned in the middle of a purchasing set of steps. Now in its fifth generation of e-commerce applications and platforms, the Internet has evolved to the point of having online shopping and broader e-commerce usability that adheres to global standards. This adher
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