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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    How to Test Single Users (Was -- Re: Usability Strategy Discussion )
From:       Irwin K <emerald-arcana () rogers ! com>
Date:       2002-07-06 4:57:06
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On Friday 05 July 2002 04:03 pm, Robert Watkins wrote:
> I'm not sure where I've given anyone the
> impression that I have any bad feelings towards
> KDE as a project. Please refresh my memory if I'm
> wrong.
>
> My goal all along has been to say that if you are
> calling this a Usability discussion board, then
> talk about Usability the way it is defined, not
> the way it's generally being done on this board.
>
> Trying to re-frame the discussion to say that I'm
> against KDE seems and using it as an excuse to
> ignore the discussion seems pretty weak.

People are like that.  You have to ignore some of them.

In general I think you're just trying to pull away from the case-by-case basis 
that most of us work in.  We all seem to tackle each user complaint one 
module at a time and it doesn't appear that you like that methodology.

I think you should keep brainstorming, but don't go too far in criticising the 
way that things are done here right now.  The way that we do things here 
doesn't fit the University Research Paper definition of "Usability", but I 
think that's just a discussion of super-technical details.


Let's talk more about how to perform user testing or something.  I personally 
need to think of a way to easily have an "average user" perform a usability 
test by themselves and be able to "understand" if an interface is usable or 
not.

I've been thinking about this problem since I've realized that not everyone 
who wants to help "test" KDE can necessarily afford to have a video camera 
and a usability expert standing next to them analyzing their results.  We 
need a way for people to understand and report results by themselves.

Some of hte ideas passed around so far were animated pictures or online 
applications (can KDE run embedded in a web page? :-> ) that will essentially 
ask the user, "Which one of these two ____ is more natural?"  Another idea 
was a short usability test and a questionnaire, where a user would perform a 
10 minute test by themselves and then answer questions that could be 
submitted electronically.

-- 
-- Arcana  (Irwin)
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