From kde-usability Wed Aug 16 11:22:13 2006 From: "Diego Moya" Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 11:22:13 +0000 To: kde-usability Subject: Re: Introducing LikeBack - Quick Feedback from Beta-Testers Message-Id: <11ee04940608160422k795e54a7mf0bdca1dc4f3b58 () mail ! gmail ! com> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-usability&m=115572734600658 Good work! Your code should soon be included as a KDE default library to enhance the life cycle of the Open Software projects, which heavily depends on user reporting. On 11/08/06, Sébastien Laoût wrote: > Le Vendredi 11 Août 2006 21:40, Chi Shang Cheng a écrit: > > - The use of colour in the feedback dialogs is unneccesary, the colour does > > not add useful information and results in a less consistent KDE interface. > > By experience, it's quite important the user click the right icon (Like or > Dislike) because it can be mis-interpeted by the developers. > When I read a message saying "the new tree view" I need to be sure the user > have not made mistake in clicking the Like or Dislike icon, because it change > completely what I will do for the application (abandon the new feature > because not liked at all, or continue and improve it). > Sometimes I thinked it was a dislike instead of a like, even tought the > background color was green. So the background color is not too much. There's a number of problems with your current use of colors: - Blind-color users won't notice the green-red difference. - Green and red are cultural colors, anyway. For example, in Asian cultures red is the colour of happiness, and green means health and peace. You never should rely only on color to present information of state, you should always have another indicator. In this case, the best widget to convey the type of comment would be a radio button: ------------------------------------------------------------- Select the type of comment: :-/ (*) I'm reporting an error. :-) ( ) I like the described feature. :-( ( ) I don't like the described feature. ------------------------------------------------------------- and the second-best, a drop-down list: ------------------------------------------------------------- Type of comment [ :-/ I'm reporting an error v] ------------------------------------------------------------- This way, the user can READ the selected state, and even better, change it before sending the comment. If it is so important that the user classifies the comment under the right kind, she shouldn't have to cancel the dialog (possibly losing the already written comment) and open a new one. > > - The placement of the accompanying text in the feedback dialogs is > > unfortunate. The visual dialog dictates that it should be in the top of the > > window, because people are used to reading from the top-left corner to the > > bottom-right one. > > The LikeBack goal is to lower the barrier between the users and the > developers. > So the text is on the bottom because it's not very important to read it. > This helps users concentrate on typing theire comment, IMHO. > > It can be seen as a "legend" text. > > And that way the "I like..." label is logically glued with the text area. > And as it's a sort of title, the "I like..." label should be on top of the > window, thus the legend can only be put on the bottom of the window ;-) > Unless you propose a better layout. If the text is not important, it shouldn't be there at all. But the first time the user uses this report system, it IS important and should be read - so it should be at the top. Don't worry about the users concentration - after having read the text for the first time, users will simply ignore it. Also the wording of the help text is subtly inducing errors. You say: "Notice that to improve this application, it's important to tell us the thing you like as much as the things you dislike". This is encouraging the user to write down BOTH the "I like..." and the "I don't like..." comment IN THE SAME TEXT BOX. When the user finishes writing an "I like" comment, she is instructed to send also "don't like" ones - and the easier action for this at this point is to simply add one at the bottom of the current text box. To avoid this, you should direct the user to the correct action to take for sending further comments - open a new comment window. You should design the interface to prevent errors, instead of trying the user to recover from errors when she has made a mistake. IMHO you should rethink the "I like" and "I don't like" buttons if you feel that they are prone to errors. A simple "Send a comment" could suffice, and then you can use a single window for all types of comments, like this: ------------------------------------------------------------- Please briefly describe your opinion about a part of the interface. Your comment will be sent to the developers of this application. Only English and French languages are accepted. Notice that to improve this application, it's important to send us several comments telling the things you like as much as the things you dislike. Describe a feature of the window NewBasket: ------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------- Select the type of comment: :-/ (*) I'm reporting an error. :-) ( ) I like the described feature. :-( ( ) I don't like the described feature. :-? ( ) I want to propose a new feature. [Send comment] [Cancel] ------------------------------------------------------------- If you still want to have different "Like/Don't like/Bug" buttons, you can have them all open the same dialog just changing the default selected value for the radio buttons. Also you should have in mind that ther will always have some misguided reportings which include both "like" and "don't like" features in the same comment, so you shouldn't rely too much in this classification. If you MUST have this classification right, you could try a multi-comment design for the window, with a different box for each type: ------------------------------------------------------------- Please briefly describe your opinion about the window NewBasket. Your comment will be sent to the developers of this application. Only English and French languages are accepted. (You don't have to fill in all the boxes below). I like... ------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------- I don't like... ------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------- Something is not working: ------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------- [Send comment] [Cancel] ------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ kde-usability mailing list kde-usability@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability