[dot] KDE Usability Process Strengthened

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1077164294/

From: Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org>
Dept: watch-out-here-we-come
Date: Thursday 19/Feb/2004, @05:18

KDE Usability Process Strengthened
==================================

   As the leading Open Source desktop, many from the private and public
sectors have expressed interest in KDE and are currently using it on a
daily basis. A message consistently received from those users has been
that KDE's usability could be better. While the need for greater
usability is not unique to KDE, what is unique is our ability to
directly and positively affect the usability processes in KDE via the
same Open Source methods that have been at the core of its success.

     KDE is delighted to have received invitations from corporate users
to leverage the expertise of their own usability teams to help improve
our software. In order to take advantage of these generous offers, the
current usability processes in KDE were reviewed so as to discover how
best to marry these new opportunities with the KDE project in general.

     To facilitate these efforts a new moderated email list has been set
up: kde-usability-devel at kde.org
[https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability-devel].
Subscription to the list is open and the list will be publicly archived.
The list will be moderated to keep the signal-to-noise ratio as high as
possible.

     The primary goal of this new email list will be to find, promote
and implement methods to integrate ongoing usability efforts with
existing KDE design methodologies. KDE developers will be encouraged and
given the tools to include usability as a primary concern at the
earliest phases of application development.

     To provide additional support for these efforts, a new website is
being developed that will become the incubator for a set of revamped and
extended KDE UI Guidelines and house industry research papers, studies
and findings in order to allow greater communication and cooperation
between academic, commercial and Open Source usability efforts.