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Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

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Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#41

Post by pacifika »

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…

Most people will be (if at all) comparing against the _current_ desktop experience though not a desktop experience from 1999 (first OS X).

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#42

Post by lkozma »

quadhome wrote: post #19

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, it really shows the disconnect between programmers and users. But to me this write-up also shows that there can't be a one-size-fits-all user interface. If the interface would be changed to conform better with the mental model of these users, surely it will conflict in some ways with the model of more experienced users. That's why the choice of window managers is great IMO.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#43

Post by lkozma »

mostly_harmless wrote: post #10
rwar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would also be interesting to see it run against Gnome 3 shell (it's 'intended' predecessor)

slightly pedantic, but Gnome 3 is the intended successor of Gnome 2 (not its predecessor)

maybe he meant predecessor of Unity.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#44

Post by tcarnell »

Great post! I started using Ubuntu Unity on my netbook, however, I had first installed Ubuntu Desktop and added Unity later so I can switch between them at loging time.

I think that Unity is great! Really encapsulates the spirit of a netbook - a small, versatile and fun communications device. I have an asus 1005pe - which I can also highly recommend.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#45

Post by kami8845 »

Sandman wrote: post #36
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.

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.

I think almost anyone that knows the English word calculator will assume at first it is just that. (at least I did)

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#46

Post by kami8845 »

lkozma wrote: post #42
quadhome wrote: post #19

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, it really shows the disconnect between programmers and users. But to me this write-up also shows that there can't be a one-size-fits-all user interface. If the interface would be changed to conform better with the mental model of these users, surely it will conflict in some ways with the model of more experienced users. That's why the choice of window managers is great IMO.

>If the interface would be changed to conform better with the mental model of these users, surely it will conflict in some ways with the model of more experienced users.

I think it's tough to do, but certainly doable. What was outlined in the OP is just basic confusion amongst novices. Something that can easily be improved upon without hurting the experience for 'senior' users. I imagine this is how Mac does it. They throw their software up against the shores of a million and one newbies and iterate until they have a product that they are happy with. Testing is an integral component of UI design & creation, and from the looks of it, Ubuntu is slacking.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#47

Post by crocowhile »

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…

Can you please give a couple of examples of why is so? The usability test this thread refers to is really just oriented to new users (mainly: how easy it is to find this and that). I wonder what Unity does for everyday users.

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#48

Post by qntm »

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'

Okay, surprise me. What key is "super"?

Re: Ubuntu Unity usability testing results and analysis

#49

Post by heyitsnick »

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...

In all seriousness, what's the problem calling it "LibreOffice Spreadsheets"? Along with "LibreOffice Presentations", "LibreOffce Documents", "LibreOffice Databases"; are we so pressed for space we can't just say exactly what it is? The "name" is libreoffice, I don't see why the individual components have to be unique or catchy.
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