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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE 3.0.2 Usability Study - First Steps
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-07-18 6:07:09
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On Thursday 18 July 2002 12:18, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> On Wednesday 17 July 2002 06:51 pm, Sebastien Biot wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I posted a couple of days ago this short paper
> > (www.viralata.net/kde_usability/001_01.html) summarizing the results
> > of a usability test I conducted on KDE 3.0.2. This is the first of a
> > series of tests I hope to conduct this summer and fall.
>
> Some comments on the study itself:
>
> * What kind of background did the test-persons have?
> * Did they have prior experience with computers?
> * With which ones?
> * For how long?

/me is interested in this too...

> And a more philosophical question:
> What are we measuring by testing how people with prior computer experience
> react to KDE? Are we measuring the ease of use of KDE or are we measuring
> how much KDE behaves like other computer systems?

i hope not. because if so, we're doomed to simply mimic the mistakes of others 
since they are "well known"...

not to mention that if you tested windows "usability" using me as a test 
subject it would make windows look HORRIBLY unusable. because for me, so used 
to every day KDE things such as single click, Alt->drag the window, Ctrl-U 
clearing of text boxes, X-style select-n-paste, etc, etc... that i'm 
hopelessly stymied in windows. (i know, i had to use a windows 2k system for 
nearly 3 hours this afternoon.. it was sad.)

> How could one measure the
> usability of KDE for people that have been using KDE somewhat longer
> already?

i would assume that most usability testing mechanisms work with people who are 
at least somewhat familiar with the systems since they are used in developing 
MS Windows and MacOS, both of which are very familiar to most. 

the trick is probably not choosing power users, but average users. watching my 
wife use KDE, despite the fact that she's used it for some time and Linux for 
an even longer time, is quite enlightening.

> I would expect that for those people differences between e.g. Windows and
> KDE pose less of a problem than for people that see KDE for the first time.
> Whether that is the case is a question of learnability I guess. How would
> you measure that?

i can think of a few possibilities:

 o be ready with a list of hints to give people who are tested when they run 
into a problem, note how manyand which of those hints are required before 
they filled in the rest of the solution themselves
 o once a testee has mastered a task that they originally failed at, leave it 
alone and come back to it at intervals (one hour, several hours, several 
days, several weeks)
 o get the same people to repeat the same tests every few weeks for the course 
of several months

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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