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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: kde4 proposal: user expertise
From:       Ali Honarvar <honarvar () gmail ! com>
Date:       2005-10-19 16:57:51
Message-ID: 200510191257.51779.honarvar () gmail ! com
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On Wednesday 19 October 2005 11:43, Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri wrote:
...
> My vote is to make frequently used options fast to access ("handy"), this
> is something like a "cache" in programming.

IMHO it is not easy to design a dynamic UI that doesn't distract the user. 
Because people often get used to the place of things as well as their shape. 
If you change this place they will need more time to find what they want, and 
it is not generally true to think if you present something somewhere in the 
UI, the user can quickly change his/her habit, and use the new place instead.

>    And we can measure the frequently used options, just someone needs to
> hack the config system and put a counter on every option, user changes it
> and it increases... then have it to be turned on while betas and have users
> to submit feedback after a week or so of usage, maybe with a screen that
> pops up after 7 days of _use_.
>    Frequently changed options will now be clear, then you prepare a way to
> fast access it, maybe using a first time wizard, maybe with a front page at
> Kcontrol, ...
>
> KDE Developers: is this "measurement" code hard to implement?


This system can certainly provide extra hints for usability people. But kind 
of statistics is not enough. Having such a system is a good thing and helps 
when you are proving some opinions about how people interact with the app. 
However I think there are also other ways to obtain such stats, like the 
videos "betterdesktop.org" is capturing. There is a problem with the system 
you mentioned: when you present a UI to the user, the user often doesn't know 
a lot of functionalities your app provides and may be biased to use some 
certain features. But, anyway, this data is valuable.


--------------------------

about user experience:
Most people (especially in linux world) are not happy with being considered  
newbies, beginners, ... . Also, the number of apps for a single task is not 
often very few, so IMHO, [almost] every app should consider its primary users 
just beginners, but do not call them so. Settings like changing the toolbar 
buttons, enabling/disabling toolbar, changing shortcut keys, ... should not 
be named *advanced*, because they are just UI settings, and are not really 
advanced.
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