File Browsing Behaviour - Results from User Interviews and a Konqueror Usability Test in August

[Ellen Reitmayr]

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Hey ho,

this year, the chaos communication congress was productive: I finally
manged to summarise the results of the user interviews and Konqueror
usability test we did in August.

Download Report [2,5 MB]:
www.userbrain.de/kde/report_filebrowser-screening-test_08.05.pdf


Summary:

In a screening test on file browsing behaviour, 21 participants were
interviewed on their habits and preferences regarding file management.
Six out of the 21 participants then conducted a usability test with
Konqueror, the KDE file manager.

The goal was to get a  first insight on how users manage the information
stored on their computer. Special consideration was given to typical
file structures (e.g. broadness and depth of hierarchies), preferred
views and icon sizes in a file browser, archiving and deleting
behaviour, and usage of drag and drop.

As expected, file structures differed widely among the participants.
Still, it was found that less experienced and average users often prefer
broad over deep hierarchies, but at the same time try to avoid more than
20 files in a directory. In order to keep a manageable file structure,
they delete or archive files from time to time.

Regarding file views it was found that less experienced and average
users are lazy to change the defaults, or to switch views in a certain
folder. Drag and drop is a popular way of copying and moving files, but
is less trusted than context menus.

Regarding Konqueror, the usability test identified some problems with
drag and drop, the handling of the views, and inconsistencies in the
interface. In the test, the users appreciated Konqueror's thumbnail
previews of images, PDFs, HTML and text files. Regarding embedded views,
they liked image and HTML previews, but encountered problems with the
sound preview. All in all, the users claimed that it was quite easy to
use, and that they would soon get used to the interface.





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______________________________________________________

Ellen Reitmayr          email: reitmayr at relevantive.de
Usability Engineer      mobil: +49.177.3325867
relevantive AG          fon:   +49.30.23455630
Saarbruecker Str. 38    fax:   +49.30.23455639
10405 Berlin            web:   www.relevantive.de
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