GNOME Shell usability test plan

[Máirín Duffy <duffy redhat com>]

Hi folks,

I've been lurking on this list for a while - I'm an interaction designer
with Red Hat; you might know me from my blog on Planet GNOME.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on putting together a
usability testing plan for GNOME Shell. Since GNOME Shell is an
environment rather than a particular application, it is an interesting
usability test challenge to me - I'm used to testing applications and
web sites. I just posted a blog post that should be hitting Planet GNOME
soon about what I've been up to in this regard:

http://mairin.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/gnome-shell-usability-test-plan/

Here is an excerpt:

"The GNOME Shell design is based upon a few assumptions about users’
desktop actions. While many of these assumptions are informed by
seasoned, long-time GNOME hackers and designers working on it such as
Owen and Jon, it’s important to define those assumptions and test them
to make sure that they are valid. We wouldn’t want GNOME 3 and GNOME
Shell to be built upon a shaky foundation. GNOME Shell is finally at the
point where it’s stable and we’ve got enough functionality in place to
run some tests on it."

The test plan itself is in both wiki and PDF/ODT format here:

http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Design/UsabilityTesting/PhaseI

Since moinmoin does not have built-in discussion pages like MediaWiki
( :( hehe) I created a separate page / scratch pad for discussion of the
test plan so folks can provide feedback. You can just comment on my blog
[2] or to this post and I'll make sure the feedback gets recorded on the
wiki discussion page.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback and working more
with you on this project :)

~m

[1] http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/UserObservationData/Jessy19Jan2009
[2]
http://mairin.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/gnome-shell-usability-test-plan/