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Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

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Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#21

Post by rufugee »

fingerprinter wrote: post #9
btmorex wrote: post #5

Overall, pretty interesting. A lot of those are definitely usability bugs. I wish someone would do a comparison between mac os x, windows, ubuntu with the same tasks to see how they stacked up against each other. However: 5/11 participants (P2, P3, P5, P9, P10, P11) crashed Unity during their hour of testing. And towards the end of her test, P11 opened a zombie quicklist that stayed on top of everything and didn't re…

I have to disagree pretty vehemently. Are you running 11.04 beta2? I've been running it for months now and I LOVE Unity. I installed on my wife's machine, and while she doesn't love it (she really doesn't care one way or another about computers etc etc) she appreciates it in many ways. Though, the best way I can describe my wife's interaction with Unity is she gets less annoyed with it than she does/did with our iMac…

This ^

I've been running Unity for 24 hours now, and I can honestly say it's been the best desktop experience I've had in all my years. Notice I said best "desktop experience", and not "best Linux desktop experience". I have been running Windows since 3.1, Linux since Red Hat 5.2, and OS X since, well, Leopard. Unity is by far the best and most cohesive experience I've had so far. It tops OS X by a wide margin...it has many of the same sort of niceties with window management that actually makes sense (yes, I think OS X window management is horrid). Add to this the fact that it bakes some of my favorite compiz features (grid plugin anyone?) in and I couldn't be happier.

I know there will be some naysayers...many, in all likelihood, but in this daily Linux desktop user's eyes, Unity is a VERY big win for Ubuntu.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#22

Post by vessenes »

This was my favorite -- DESIGNERS, THIS IS WHAT AD BLINDNESS LOOKS LIKE IN AN APP: Don't design stuff like this in, people don't notice it anymore.

" Only 2/6 noticed an XChat Gnome notification, despite (1) a notification bubble appearing, (2) the Ubuntu button going blue, (3) the messaging menu envelope going blue, and (4) an emblem appearing on XChat Gnome's launcher. "

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#23

Post by hasenj »

vessenes wrote: post #22

This was my favorite -- DESIGNERS, THIS IS WHAT AD BLINDNESS LOOKS LIKE IN AN APP: Don't design stuff like this in, people don't notice it anymore. " Only 2/6 noticed an XChat Gnome notification, despite (1) a notification bubble appearing, (2) the Ubuntu button going blue, (3) the messaging menu envelope going blue, and (4) an emblem appearing on XChat Gnome's launcher. "

Oh yea, I always miss when someone mentions my name in xchat.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#24

Post by rufugee »

akavlie wrote: post #16

I run with a laptop (display on, but rarely used) connected to an external monitor. Linux assumes the laptop is the default, and changing the external to primary is next to impossible. Unity puts everything important on the laptop display in this configuration. That alone is a deal breaker for me. Note that Ubuntu Classic works perfectly in this setup. My panels go to the external monitor when it's plugged in, and mo…

I have it running on dual displays with no problems whatsoever. That said, I have two 22-inch monitors and not a laptop screen. Unity is early days now...I'm sure your issue will be fixed soon enough.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#25

Post by hasenj »

Here's what I think should happen before final release:

- Make the launcher always on by default

- Remove the recycle bin icon (I really don't get the point of it)

- Remove the applications icon (redundant with the Ubuntu button). Perhaps add a "System" lense view instead (system settings and all that).

- Add an "expose" icon (super-w). And perhaps hide the workspaces icon by default.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#26

Post by hasenj »

rufugee wrote: post #21
fingerprinter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to disagree pretty vehemently. Are you running 11.04 beta2? I've been running it for months now and I LOVE Unity. I installed on my wife's machine, and while she doesn't love it (she really doesn't care one way or another about computers etc etc) she appreciates it in many ways. Though, the best way I can describe my wife's interaction with Unity is she gets less annoyed with it than she does/did with our iMac…

This ^ I've been running Unity for 24 hours now, and I can honestly say it's been the best desktop experience I've had in all my years. Notice I said best "desktop experience", and not "best Linux desktop experience". I have been running Windows since 3.1, Linux since Red Hat 5.2, and OS X since, well, Leopard. Unity is by far the best and most cohesive experience I've had so far. It tops OS X by a wide margin...it h…

I've been using Unity for about a month (or more?) now. It is indeed an awesome experience. Definitely much better than Windows 7. I can't compare it to OS X because I haven't used it, but your testimony makes me really excited :D

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#27

Post by jerf »

kemayo wrote: post #8
rubergly wrote: post #6

I wonder: 11 people seems like a rather small sample size; does Canonical typically do any testing with larger samples? I'm surprised that only 5/10 people tried to open another Firefox window by clicking the launcher icon. Personally, I think clicking the launcher icon not opening a new window is silly, but that's because I'm used to Windows 7 and not OSX.

Jakob Nielsen does suggest [1] that only 5 users will get you about 80% of the problems in your software, and 15 will get you damn-near-everything. So 11 is pretty good. [1] http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html

Also, if you do have the resources to do, say, 100 user tests, you actually actively don't want to do them all at the same time or it will be a waste because they will all say the same thing.

If anything, this was overtested. There's a lot of redundancy in those results, just as Nielsen would predict. This is not a scientific experiment to determine the effect of a drug, and you do not always need or even necessarily want a 95% confidence interval, as the costs would exceed the benefits here.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#28

Post by Prolorn »

Bo102010 wrote: post #14
Legion wrote: post #11

> P7 and P11 thought that "LibreOffice Calc" was a calculator "Calc" is just not a smart name for a spreadsheet application. > and P7 and P9 thought Ubuntu Software Center was the Recycle Bin. I understand that, because that is what the icon looks like.

Is there a good name for a spreadsheet application besides "Spreadsheet?" "VisiCalc" was the first one on a PC, "Lotus 1-2-3" became popular later, "Excel" is now the dominant one...

Apple has "Numbers", which seems as good a name for a spreadsheet program as any, to me.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#30

Post by nrbafna »

I am really surprised one thing didn't come up. It's about the super+(?) shortcut.

If you press them very quickly, say 'super+D', then it will take to desktop and open dash as well. To be safe, you have press 'super', wait till numbers appear on the icons in launcher and then press 'D'

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