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Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

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Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#101

Post by hasenj »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #62
hasenj wrote: post #25

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.

>" - Remove the recycle bin icon (I really don't get the point of it) " Is it so you can find docs that you "deleted" by accident?

I mean the point of it having a special place in the launcher.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#102

Post by acabal »

fingerprinter wrote: post #100
acabal wrote: post #95

If almost 50% of the users managed to crash the GUI with routine tasks in the span of a single hour , that's a sure sign that it isn't ready for prime-time yet, regardless of what anybody's opinions on features or functionality are. I personally think this is almost definitely going to end up as another Pulseaudo-style debacle that'll jade even more Ubuntu users. This kind of stuff is exactly why I never recommend Li…

I know people hate this answer, but this is how I look at that: LTS. Seriously, I install LTS for several things: servers and non-techies. Why? b/c I view non-LTS releases as awesome for me, you, people on this site but not for my grandma. What I've seen Ubuntu do is they have given people who want to be on the bleeding edge a way to be on the bleeding edge every 6 months, and that is freakin' awesome. But if you don…

Maybe true, but as a web developer I can't in good conscience install an OS for a user that won't upgrade to FF4 for more than 6 months. That's the PPA/milestone release system's blessing and curse: easy to install software, hard to get the latest version without terminal witchcraft or upgrading the entire distro and eating whatever other changes (Unity) that upgrade brings.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#103

Post by TillE »

acabal wrote: post #102
fingerprinter wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people hate this answer, but this is how I look at that: LTS. Seriously, I install LTS for several things: servers and non-techies. Why? b/c I view non-LTS releases as awesome for me, you, people on this site but not for my grandma. What I've seen Ubuntu do is they have given people who want to be on the bleeding edge a way to be on the bleeding edge every 6 months, and that is freakin' awesome. But if you don…

Maybe true, but as a web developer I can't in good conscience install an OS for a user that won't upgrade to FF4 for more than 6 months. That's the PPA/milestone release system's blessing and curse: easy to install software, hard to get the latest version without terminal witchcraft or upgrading the entire distro and eating whatever other changes (Unity) that upgrade brings.

This is what annoys me about the package management/release system of nearly every Linux distro. There's no easy way to cherry-pick just one package (and its dependencies, obviously) from the bleeding-edge branch. It's all or nothing.

Ultimately, flexible package management is what keeps me using Gentoo and dabbling with Exherbo, in spite of the fact that I don't really want to tinker with my OS anymore.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#104

Post by steevdave »

nrbafna wrote: 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 use a Logitech G15, and it has a little switch on it to switch between "computer" and "gaming" mode. Since I rarely use(d) the super/windows key, I tend to just leave it in "gaming" mode. Without running into a post like this, I would have found it extremely tedious to click the icon type the application name, and then click it's icon.

While I'm sure I'm in a minority, it is always something to consider when writing shortcuts to consider that people may not have a key available.

I haven't tried recently but last attempt I believe alt+f2 did not work as a "run" dialog

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#105

Post by steevdave »

wazoox wrote: post #80
[deleted] wrote: post #79

[deleted]

I don't have my Macbook at hand, but IIRC correctly the Mac error message is more like "The file can't be saved; try a shorter name or removing special characters".

This isn't unity specific, the only reason they did it was to see if the user could then find the document. The failing in this specific case is more on the side of Libre/OpenOffice.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#106

Post by Bo102010 »

Terretta wrote: post #69
SpookyAction wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how "Numbers" is any more intuitive than "Calc", not that Calc is really a good name for a spreadsheet application, but at least it makes sense. Spreadsheets do calculate things, it's just the name collision with the Windows app calc and the fact most people associate calculating with, well a calculator. Calc may be a poor name for a spreadsheet app but Numbers is definitely worse.

> I don't see how "Numbers" is any more intuitive than "Calc" In an office, ask a bookkeeper, sales manager, whomever, "Hey, show me the numbers!", and you're going to see a spreadsheet. If you ask, "Hey, show me the calc!", you'll get a blank look. Evidence suggests "Numbers" is a perfectly cromulent word.

Where I've worked, you'd be more likely to see a spreadsheet poorly pasted into a PowerPoint presentation with a poorly scaled bitmap of a logo in the corner that is a 6 MiB attachment to an email...

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#107

Post by Bo102010 »

viraptor wrote: post #83
rufugee wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If you haven't tried it yet, give original Gnome 3 / Gnome shell a go. You might like it even more than Unity. I get a feeling that by jumping straight to Unity, they will cause many people to be excited about it, not knowing they've lost something at least as good.

I tried both for the first time last week.

Unity is not bad by any stretch, but it feels unfinished to me when I use it. I kept hitting the wrong thing and breaking the flow of whatever task I was doing. I'm sure with some more experience with it I'll quit doing that, but it kept violating my expectations and stealing my attention from more important things.

Gnome 3 was a big change, but felt much tighter and polished. I didn't seem to have to think too much about how to do stuff.

Based on that experience, I think I'd like to use Gnome 3 on Ubuntu long-term.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#108

Post by eliben »

acabal wrote: post #95

If almost 50% of the users managed to crash the GUI with routine tasks in the span of a single hour , that's a sure sign that it isn't ready for prime-time yet, regardless of what anybody's opinions on features or functionality are. I personally think this is almost definitely going to end up as another Pulseaudo-style debacle that'll jade even more Ubuntu users. This kind of stuff is exactly why I never recommend Li…

I'm not sure what your Grandma manages to do to the machine, but I've never, ever had Ubuntu crash on me while running the long-term-support versions (currently 10.04). At the same time, if I could get a dollar for each Win7 crash...

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#109

Post by fingerprinter »

acabal wrote: post #102
fingerprinter wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people hate this answer, but this is how I look at that: LTS. Seriously, I install LTS for several things: servers and non-techies. Why? b/c I view non-LTS releases as awesome for me, you, people on this site but not for my grandma. What I've seen Ubuntu do is they have given people who want to be on the bleeding edge a way to be on the bleeding edge every 6 months, and that is freakin' awesome. But if you don…

Maybe true, but as a web developer I can't in good conscience install an OS for a user that won't upgrade to FF4 for more than 6 months. That's the PPA/milestone release system's blessing and curse: easy to install software, hard to get the latest version without terminal witchcraft or upgrading the entire distro and eating whatever other changes (Unity) that upgrade brings.

Just had another look over the policy:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FirefoxNewVersion

Seems perfectly reasonable, and more importantly, prudent given the LTS nature.

To summarize:

* FF4 is available in a PPA right now - ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable * 10.04 will continue use FF3.6 in main as long as Mozilla supports it (probably about 6 more months) * Once mozilla stops support for 3.6, 10.04 will switch to the latest stable (if that is FF5, that is what gets installed).

Seems very reasonable. Imagine if you are a huge corporation and you standardized on Ubuntu 10.04. Would you want every package to get updated to the latest and greatest each time it comes out or would you want security updates to those packages? If you want latest and greatest, jump on the 6 month cycle. If you want to get security updates for a known system, stick to the LTS. Even so, for those that WANT to get the latest of select packages, there are ways.

So, if you feel that having the latest and greatest for your users is important, stick to the non-LTS cycle and pick it and go. You can also install 10.10.

Have a look at the EOL dates...you can use 10.10 with full support until April 2012, getting you through 2 more Ubuntu releases and to the next LTS.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#110

Post by krakensden »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #64

What this story is missing is a couple of screenshots from the particular implementation used. Anyone?

If you google for "Ubuntu Unity screenshots" you should be fine. You can also download the beta and run it in a VM if you'd like to see it in person.
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