Something that would be useful and relevant to GNOME 3.0 as we move forward would be good. Getting feedback on GNOME Shell before we put in front of a ton of people is a good idea.
Stormy On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 4:13 AM, Paul Cooper <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Stormy, > > On Wed, 2009-04-22 at 15:53 -0600, Stormy Peters wrote: > > As many of you know, I'm interested in putting together a usability > > study for GNOME on netbooks. > > While it's cool that we've got some resources for a usability study I > question whether this is the best vehicle to spend those resources on. > > I guess the question in my mind is what is the impact of the results > going to be. I think it's fairly easy to see that stock, out of the box > GNOME has big problems on a netbook, and I fear that all we would get > from a test is a validation of what we know is wrong; default panels > waste precious real estate, targets are too small and menus too fiddly > for the crappy (uh I mean suboptimal) trackpads, certain apps and config > windows are unusable at netbook resolutions, etc, etc. > > If we had a 'optimised' GNOME config[1] for netbooks that attempted to > fix most of this 'obvious' low hanging fruit then that would be worth > testing - but getting to that point takes time for people to think about > the design constraints, brainstorm ideas, come up with a plan and then > execute it. > > But wait - that's exactly what happened at the Boston Summit! (but not > directly for netbooks). I would suggest that the GNOME Shell would be a > better subject for the testing - it's young enough that the feeback > would have a greater impact in refining new ideas, and reset direction > (if needed). Plus it would help validate a design that is probably the > most user visible change in the GNOME 3.0 plans or warn us if there are > big problems. > > So in summary; +1000 for doing a usability study, -1 for doing it on > stock GNOME on a netbook > > Paul > > [1] For example, the most 'critically acclaimed' netbook UX AFAICT is > the MIE created by HP & Canonical. It looks nothing like a traditional > 'desktop' and solves many of the obvious issues. Of course underneath > it's all the familiar GNOME stuff you'd expect but optimised for the > small screen and suboptimal keyboard and trackpad (although the Mini > 1000 that it ships on has the best keyboard & trackpad on a netbook that > I've used). > > > I've gotten a few quotes from usability companies/contractors and I've > > gotten some interest from advisory board member companies. > > > > However, I could use some help shaping up the study. I'm not a > > usability expert, nor really a GNOME on netbook expert (just a user), > > so I could use some help. > > > > Things left to do: > > - Figure out exactly what we want feedback on, > > - Figure out best way to get useful feedback, (what do we want to > > test) > > - Work with usability experts/companies/consultants to finalize quotes > > based on what we want, > > - Figure out ways to keep costs low by involving volunteers, giving > > things other than money to those that help (publicity, making all the > > data public and accredited to the organization, ...) > > - Finding funds. (I've asked all our traditional sponsoring companies > > and then some and a few are interested in participating and helping > > out financially.) > > > > Anybody interested in helping out? > > > > Thanks, > > > > Stormy > > _______________________________________________ > > mobile-devel-list mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mobile-devel-list > -- > Intel Open Source Technology Centre > http://oss.intel.com/ > >
_______________________________________________ Usability mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
