Live data from Hacker News

Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

lists.ubuntu.com

31–40 of 119 posts

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#31
post #7

It would have been nice to have a test group that used the classic Gnome 2 desktop. This would give the Unity scores a bit more context.

I guess that really wasn't the point. The intention was to find out the usability bugs in Unity.

But that should be the point. I am still not convinced why Unity is necessary.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#32
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…

I'm not sure what you were disagreeing with, but I have to disagree with your disagreeing because if 5/11 people crashed the thing in an hour, it's completely unusable for many people, me included.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

"Gnumeric" at least has something to do with the task, and "KSpread" is basically "spreadsheet"

Gnumeric only makes sense if you know how to pronounce "gnu".

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#34
post #32

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…

I'm not sure what you were disagreeing with, but I have to disagree with your disagreeing because if 5/11 people crashed the thing in an hour , it's completely unusable for many people, me included.

When someone says "pulseaudio 2.0", they mean it in a derogatory sense ;)

Also, the statement about Ubuntu being less stable than debian testing. I don't know the GPs specific instance, but Ubuntu has basically made debian a usable desktop.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#35
post #30

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'

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

Really?? You are surprised that the test group didn't somehow magically discover an edge case in a feature they didn't know existed and has no discovery mechanism?

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#36
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.

Funny enough, spreadsheet applications are called "table calculators" in my language, so naming it "Calc" makes perfect sense to me :). I can see how it would make much less sense to a native english speaker, though. Anyway, perhaps "LibreOffice Sheets" would be an improvement on the name of this app.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#37
post #35
post #30

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'

I am really surprised one thing didn't come up. It's about the super+(?) shortcut. Really?? You are surprised that the test group didn't somehow magically discover an edge case in a feature they didn't know existed and has no discovery mechanism?

Well, they did use the shortcut.

It happens to me 90% of the time I use super+d.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#38
How far we've come!

I remember about 10 years ago, with the rise of XP and the advent of OS X, expecting Linux desktop to fall ever further behind on a usable & full-featured desktop.

Here we are discussing the usability tests of big UI innovations.

I'd like to thank everyone who got us here! (cough including Redmond cough)

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#39
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…

You can force a screen to become primary by running:

  xrandr --output VGA1 --primary
Adapter name may be different on your machine. I have to use it because in my case it always defaults to laptop's monitor.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#40

Some of these are humbling. They reinforce how disconnected I-- a programmer-- am from the average person. > P1 recovered amazingly well after trying to save "Letter to Mr Smith 08/04/11", and getting the vile response "Error stating file '/home/ubuntu/Documents/Letter to Mr Smith 08/04': No such file or directory" That's something I'd never consider, what with various directory separators baked into my subconscious.

Yes, I thought the same thing! Really shows the value of running tests with people with other backgrounds.

Just for fun I tried saving a document in Microsoft Office 2007 here with a filename containing slashes. I got a slightly better response: "Ogiltigt filnamn" (Illegal filename). Not as confusing, but still no help at all on what was wrong with it or how to correct it.

Post reply on HN