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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Usability Strategy Discussion
From:       Simon Edwards <simon () simonzone ! com>
Date:       2002-07-06 9:10:28
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Hi,

On Friday 05 July 2002 19:09, Robert Watkins wrote:
> Believe it or not, I've actually benefited from
> the discussion on this topic. 

I just hope that the benefit was a bit more than either "a learning 
experiance" or "character building". ;-)

> The KDE Usability Labs Certification Program
> [snip!]

It looks quite promising, but I just keep on wondering where interface design, 
and _correcting_ problems fits into this scheme. I don't see much point in a 
certification program if nothing actually gets fixed. The goal of this 
project is to (help) produce better, more user friendly software, not just to 
produce measurements and reports. Measuring usability is important to see how 
well something works, but it's just part of a means to an end, and without 
solutions to any found usability problems, it's quite pointless.

Finding a usability problem in a piece of software doesn't mean that you've 
also found a solution to it. So, where do these solutions come from? Simply. 
What is your positon on interface design and so-called "heuristic 
evaluation"? 

IMO, interface design and "heuristic evaluation" should be this project's 
first means of 'attack' on a piece of software to indentify the glaringly 
obvious usability problems, then followed by redesign, correction, and 
discussion on this list before the software goes on to be testing with users. 
Perhaps this should occur before a project reaches 'Bronze' status. 
"Heuristic evaluation" is a good starting point for this list too, since it 
is cheap, and also something we know can (and already) do. I kind of get the 
impression Robert, that you think that creating a good user interface is 
something that can only be approached empirically and using trial and 
error... but I don't believe that is the fully story...

Anyway, I think that progress is being made here... let's keep pushing through 
the issues.

-- 
Simon Edwards             | Guarddog Firewall
simon@simonzone.com       | http://www.simonzone.com/software/
Nijmegen, The Netherlands | "ZooTV? You made the right choice."


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