Testing an electronic collocation dictionary interface: Diccionario de Colocaciones del Español

This paper describes the results of a usability study that tests the online interface of the Diccionario de Colocaciones del Español (DiCE). This dictionary was conceived with the purpose of providing a detailed description of Spanish collocations in accordance with the theoretical guidelines of the Explanatory and Combinatorial Lexicology. Although from the outset of dictionary compilation, accessibility of the DiCE interface has always been taken into account, no usability test has been carried out to see how different target user groups are able to perform with the dictionary. Our aim was to assess the functionality of the different search options offered by the interface, both in terms of their efficiency and the adequacy of presentation from the point of view of the user. As the results of the test show, the overall quality of interaction between users and the dictionary was good, although we have also identified some areas for improvement, which are provided as design recommendations in the concluding part of the paper.