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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: How to join the KDE Usability Team?
From:       Celeste Lyn Paul <celeste () kde ! org>
Date:       2008-12-29 15:59:41
Message-ID: 200812291059.41652.celeste () kde ! org
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On Monday 29 December 2008 09:59:46 am Stephen Kelly wrote:
> Hi,
>
> In an effort to lower the barrier to entry for new and potential
> contributors to KDE, I'm making a few techbase pages to guide people in the
> process of becoming a contributor.
>
> http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Contributor_Paths
>
> I want to get help here on finding what the steps are to become a
> contributor to the usability of KDE. What are the entry points? Where are
> the resources? What are the tasks? What is the easy stuff?

Thanks for starting this.  The usability.kde.org website is terribly out of 
date and I've been debating on just asking it to redirect to 
techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability 

Just for reference, in my mind there are two types of contributors. Sometimes 
these can be the same people, but often they are separate people.

One, as a developer who is interested in actively improving the usability of 
their/any application by making code changes, commiting them and releasing 
them.

Two, as a design who is interested in (not exactly passively, but they are not 
a first party) improving the usability of any application by making 
recommendations of changes to developers.

>
> My draft ideas are below
>
>
>
> *****************
>
> This page is for people who want to improve the usability of KDE.
>
> == Dive in ==
> What is the HIG?
> Reviewing KDE apps - What to look for.
Reviewing would be extremely difficult to write guidelines for. The easy topics 
are HIG violations, but anything that doesn't have a written guideline for is 
always contested.  Unless you are quick with design theory or have a 
reputation, recommendations get shot down pretty quickly.

I would suggest the following sections

* What is the KDE4 HIG (purpose, goals, link to HIG)
* Writing bugs for KDE HIG violations

> Using qt designer to fix usability issues.
I don't know what you mean by this.  Qt designer doesn't fix usability issues, 
but using .ui files makes it easier for designers to assist developers with 
coding -- something usually inaccessible to designers. Designers who are 
comfortable with an IDE can go in to a .ui file and make the changes for the 
developer, and just need a review afterwards. Sometimes that saves a lot of 
time for minor changes like alignment and labelling.

> Fixing usability issues in code.
Same as above, also I think these are mostly HIG issues.

> Use cases and scenarios
> User research profiles.

These two things go together.  I wish we had a more extensive 
description/tutorial written up somewhere.

>
> == Resources ==
> Seeles blog
> HIG
> openusability
> http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/Project_User_Research_Template
Books
Lots more beginner websites on UI and Usability

-- 
Celeste Lyn Paul
KDE Usability Project
usability.kde.org
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