kde-usability FAQ

Scott Wheeler wheeler at kde.org
Wed Mar 15 01:20:27 CET 2006


I talked some to Celeste about coming up with a FAQ for the, uhh, louder list.  
This is a rough draft.  It's pretty bad, but well, I'm not a usability person 
-- I just wanted to get things going.  Please send corrections / additions 
and I'll merge them in.

It's probably easier to read at:

http://developer.kde.org/~wheeler/kde-usability-faq.html

-Scott

===

* What is software usability?

Wikipedia says: 

Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a 
particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular 
goal. Usability can also refer to the methods of measuring usability and the 
study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or elegance.

Usability is closely related to the fields of industrial psychology and 
ergonimics. There is a wide body of literature on software usability as well 
as a number of established methods for evaluating usability and generally 
working on user-centric design.

Ellen Reitmayr, of the KDE Usability project, recently did a chronological 
outline of some of the standard steps in usability evaluation:

[this chart just won't work here -- see the html page]

For already released software starting in the last column is common. For 
working to become integrated within the development of a project it is more 
useful to take note of the full spectrum of usability methods.

* What is software usability not?

Software usability is not graphic design or making things visually attractive. 
It's also not about personal opinions or first reactions to an interface.
In the context of the usability list, it's important to note that software 
usability is not about making ad hoc suggestions to the KDE usability or 
development communities. The purpose of the list is to provide a place for 
discussion of usability, as defined above, interaction design, usability 
reports and so on.

Those wishing to simply provide feedback should do so via the bug tracking 
system.

* How do I report a usability issue?

There are two broad ways of answering this question. The basic options are: 

 - File a bug via bugs.kde.org
 - Do a usability report

The first option is quite straightforward -- simply sign into bugs.kde.org and 
report the issue. Remember to keep in mind things like user context (i.e. 
what is the user doing or trying to do when the problem occurs?), screenshots 
can also be very helpful.

The second option is more involved, but also often much more helpful. It 
assumes some familiarity with usability methods (which you can find out more 
about in the section below on Where can I learn more about usability?). 
Usually these reports incorporate and document the use of the methods 
mentioned above in the What is usability? section.

A good example of employing these methods is available here. There are other 
reports available from the OpenUsability website, which works closely with 
the KDE Usability project.

* What is appropriate for the usability list? What is the purpose of the list?

As mentioned above, the purpsoe of the list is for discussing usability. This 
is not tantamount to posting percieved problems with interfaces, consistancy, 
etc. Posts which are of that nature will be redirected to bugs.kde.org.
It is on topic to ask further questions about the methods above. One of the 
goals of the list, in addition to having constructive discussion on usability 
topics is to help promote general familiarity with usability and related 
practices. Generally, however, such requests for information should be kept 
separate from critiques.

* Where can I learn more about usability?

We're glad you asked. There are a number of useful links and publications on 
software usability and closely related fields: 

Books: 
 - The Design of Everyday Things - Donald A. Norman
 - Usability Engineering - Jakob Nielsen
 - The Inmates Are Running the Asylum - Alan Cooper
 - ...
 Publications: 
  - ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
   ...

Online Resources:
 - OpenUsability
 - Tina Trillitzsch's Introductions to Personas (Blog 1) (Blog 2) (Slides) 
 - Ellen Reitmayr's Presentation on Usability in OSS (German)
 - ...

Additionaly, if you are in a university or professional training program there 
are often courses on iteraction design, human computer interaction, 
ergonomics, etc. If available, these courses can help introduce one to the 
theory behind software usability.

-- 
Three words: you have no clue
-Slashdot


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