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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Students doing KDE usability studies
From:       Markus Rittenbruch <markusr () itee ! uq ! edu ! au>
Date:       2004-03-18 6:39:11
Message-ID: F73CB5BA-78A6-11D8-AB64-00039376E10E () itee ! uq ! edu ! au
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On 17/03/2004, at 8:36 PM, Ellen Reitmayr wrote:

>
> Hi Markus,
>
>>> I thought about running a usability study with my students on a
>>> range of KDE applications (Konquerer, Control Center, ..) and get  
>>> them to
>>> write usability reports which they could submit to
>>> http://usability.kde.org/.
>
> As Shashmit stated it would be best to manage your studies with the  
> help
> of openusability.org. But if you look at the site you will realise that
> it is still a 'WIP in progress'. By that reason the major question is:
> When do you want to start testing?

Hi Ellen,

We've planned to start testing in approx. 2 weeks. The students have  
approximately
8 weeks to run user studies and perform iterative design and evaluation.

>
>
>> If you start creating mockups, probably with Qt Designer, it would be
> also a
>> good idea to try to get in touch with the developers of the specific
> apps.
>> This will lead to better results than just sending them a rough UI
> file.
>>
>
> And that's the next question: How are you planning to conduct the  
> tests?
> Do you want to test the current applications, or the unstable releases?

I'm basically trying to get as current as possible so the feedback  
makes sense
and doesn't focus on already solved problems. I thought about running  
with a
modified Knoppix or Gentoo live-cd (with a recent KDE base) since some  
of
our lab computers don't  have linux installed. I found a slackware/slax  
iso with
KDE base 3.2.0 which also looks like a god option.

> Or even better: Are the students able to create mockups, so you might
> compare two or more design alternatives?

The study will comprise a number of constructive interaction session in  
our usability
lab in order to gather some initial usability data. The next step is to  
observe the usage
of KDE "in the field" using contextual interviews or something similar.  
This is followed
by a 2-phase design/evaluation cycle with the first cycle resulting in  
low-fidelity prototypes
and potentially design alternatives. The second phase will focus on  
more detailed issues
and result in a more detailed prototype (Alexander Neundorf suggested  
the use of Qt Designer
for this stage).

I'm not really sure how detailed the results will eventually be but  
they will hopefully identify
some relevant usability issues and make some original design  
suggestions...

> In each case you should get in
> contact with the developers to learn about the current design aspects  
> in
> question.

That's a great idea and I'll try to do that. We haven't really decided  
which
applications to look at yet but it is likely that some of the  
"standard" apps like
Konquerer and Control Center will be the target.

> Openusability.org will be the place to do that.. so again the
> question raises: When do you want to start?
>
> With respect to the reports it is a good idea to write them in the kde
> usability report xml format (see
> http://usability.kde.org/activity/usabilityreports/usability-report- 
> guide.php ). It will be taken over to openusability.org.

Cool, I'll have a look into that.

>
> Have a nice day 8-)
>

Likewise :)

Cheers, Markus

Markus Rittenbruch
Associate Lecturer
School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering
Unversity of Queensland
St.Lucia: 07 336 59765
Ipswich:  07 338 11140

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