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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: How to join the KDE Usability Team?
From:       "Dotan Cohen" <dotancohen () gmail ! com>
Date:       2008-12-30 21:32:56
Message-ID: 880dece00812301332k682553cdu1145655efe5ef709 () mail ! gmail ! com
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2008/12/30 Celeste Lyn Paul <celeste@kde.org>:
> On Tuesday 30 December 2008 02:56:26 am Dotan Cohen wrote:
>> 2008/12/29 Celeste Lyn Paul <celeste@kde.org>:
>> > I would not want to put ways users can submit usability bug reports on a
>> > contributing page. Users submitting a usability bug is a conflict of
>> > interest.
>>
>> Not to be argumentative, but could you please point out the conflict
>> of interest? I do not see a conflict of interest, rather, I see that
>> the _user_ should be the one submitting the usability enhancement
>> requests.
>
> The user is biased towards their own needs and insensitive to the needs of
> other roles and do not have the full picture of the business and system
> requirements.

Being biased towards one's one needs does not mean that one is
necessarily insensitive to the needs of other roles, nor does it imply
that one does not have the full picture of "the business and system
requirements". That sounds like something straight out of a Dilbert
cartoon.

> Sure, you might get some issues right which could affect more
> than just themselves.

"might get some issues right", like taking a chance in the lottery?
So, if I spot a usability issue or thirty, I should just wait until
some UI expert _also_ discovers it (because that UI expert is using
the software in every possible way possible, so eventually he will
find it, right)?

> Also, obvsiouly the user is going to have a bias to fix
> what affects them, even if it might have an opposite affect on someone else.

That is what options are for. I _need_ hidden directories to be shown.
My wife needs them to be hidden. Dolphin has that _option_.

> These biases is part of what causes the conflict of interest.
>

I still do not see a conflict of interest.

> if that's not enough, go read up on it.  This is a general principle in user-
> centered design.
>

Please direct me to a link. Obviously, this is not my field and I
would like to read the material you suggest so that I can file more
accurate usability issues. Thanks.

>> > It is hard for a user to be able to diagnose an issue as a wish for
>> > themselves or a real design issue.
>>
>> That's fair enough. What about a test case composed of eight subjects?
>> I did one recently with the Konqueror context menus, and filed two
>> bugs on what I learned. Sometimes I can coax more people into
>> participating, sometimes less.
>>
>> > Having users submit "usability" bugs instead of wishes
>> > will reduce the importance of real usability bugs.
>>
>> Please describe what a real usability bugs is.
>
> A design issue and not a wish.
>

Apparently I do not understand the difference. If I have an
enhancement request to change a particular design, is that a usability
bug? Case in point:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=177708

> I briefing scanned over your next email. Usability and design are generically
> synonymous.  Usability is a quality of a design and it is silly to separate it
> out as a single entity.  Usability is just a buzz word that made it in to
> everyone's vocabulary.
>

Then let's ignore the term usability. How would you like to describe
issues that make an application difficult to use?

>> > What *could* go there are links to surveys or other participatory methods
>> > that users can participate in, but those are few and far between.  User
>> > feedback is only useful when there is a purpose in mind, and when that
>> > happens, we come find you.
>>
>> I see, so the surveys that I perform _are_ satisfactory. Very well,
>> then, I will file usability issues only after I have run the idea
>> across several users, and if I still feel that there is room for
>> improvement only then will I file the bug.
>
> You conduct or you participate in?

I conduct.

> There is a difference.  Users can
> participate in surveys.  They shouldn't *conduct* surveys. Since theyre not
> designers they don't know what questions to ask in order to solve the problem.
> Any evidence you would gather isn't really evidence if it is the wrong answer
> for the wrong question.
>

Are you serious? I recently asked 8 KDE 3 users what each item in
Konqueror's context menu does, and if they ever use it. Based on the
results, I filed these two bugs:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=178810
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=178811

Would you call those invalid?

I do little surveys like this all the time. With students,
instructors, my 74 year old mother in law, two neighbors (one is an
engineer), neighborhood kids, and other varied people that I've
installed Fedora or Kubuntu for. When a pattern is identified, I file
it.

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il

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