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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    RE: Usability Bugs and.....?
From:       "Jonathan Bacon" <j.bacon () delta ! wlv ! ac ! uk>
Date:       2001-08-24 11:48:47
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Hi Rob,

You make some *excellent* points here. Let me explain the ideas floating
in my own head.

The whole concept of usability bug reports is only part of the study. IT
is one thing that needs to be integrated so usability issues can be
identified on current software. There are so many other things that can
and need to be done. These include:

 - KDE Research

   A subset of the study is to built a research project to identify
future areas where KDE
   can be improved and extended. This would be a precursor to
development.

 - Test suite development

   We need to built plans for gathering information. For example, we
need to find out the
   type of people who use KDE. This can be done with a profiling test
suite to gather this
   data from users. Maybe a poll on dot.kde.org could be done or on
www.kde.org.

   We also need to develop test suites for parts of KDE. For example I
would like to see a
   test suite on the icons in KDE to see if they are understood by users
optimally. We need
   to develop questions, tests and the like. This is where work on the
Question API will
   continue.

The simple truth is this study is whatever *we* make of it. If you feel
you have an idea for a usability test or concept that could help, then
let us know and go ahead. The more help we have and work the better. :-)

           Jono

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Watkins [mailto:robert_maria@yahoo.com]
Sent: 24 August 2001 12:14
To: kde-usability@mail.kde.org
Subject: Usability Bugs and.....?


When I created the Usability Report for KPlato, I
was struck by the fact that the reports are
designed solely to be bug reports. This bothers
me.

Usability needs to be on the front-end of
development and not just the back-end. It is not
a User Acceptance Test type of activity, it is an
activity that starts during requirements
gathering. 

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself because I know
that introducing Usability into any development
environment is difficult. I'm just afraid that
we'll give the wrong impression that bug tracking
is all that Usability is good for.

I think some of the efforts on doing a study with
users is a good idea, but we need to introduce
the topic of Usability to the developers so that
they understand and apprecite the benefits of
this aspect of application development.

Am I off base?

Robert Watkins

=====


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