Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Usability report on Rhythmbox

[Sean McNamara <smcnam gmail com>]

Hi Charline,

On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 10:38 AM, Charline
<charline poirier canonical com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have just completed usability testing of Rhythmbox.  I am planning to
> publish the results on CanonicalDesign.com on Tuesday.  I would like you to
> read the report, if you have time, and send  me feedback or any questions
> you might have.
>
> I hope the report will be helpful.
>
> C.
> --

Did you ask users if there were any features they felt were omitted
from Rhythmbox as a full-featured music management application? If so,
what were their responses?

I think this is almost as important as making sure that the features
we already have are working well and prominent. It's one thing when a
feature is implemented, but is buried where users can't find it until
they are accustomed to it (example: the ratings system). It's another
thing when users expect something that is absent altogether. Rhythmbox
is extensible, so we've got the opportunity to pick up those missing
pieces. But we can't do that unless we know what those missing
features are.

For my part, I have been completely (100.0%) satisfied with the
behavior and features of Rhythmbox, ever since I wrote rbpitch[1]. I
basically just use Rhythmbox to play music on my hard drive, and
occasionally an internet radio stream. It is eminently clear to me how
to do these two things, and I find Rhythmbox's library management
features (e.g. automatically picking up files dropped in the library
directory, searching for music to play a particular artist, etc) to be
second to none. And on that note, I would be very interested to hear
what you think of the UI of rbpitch, given that you are an authority
on UX :) Here is a screenshot displaying the most recent UI pass,
rendered on Lucid: http://tiyukquellmalz.org/rbpitch-0.13.0.png . It
should be noted that the "Rhythmbox Pitch Control" window pops up when
you click a button on the toolbar, to the right of "Start or stop
visualization" in the default configuration. I currently use a stock
icon for that button, but maybe I should be using a custom icon. I
just don't have the artistic skill to create a distinctive icon
myself. If I use the icon of a speaker or a music note, the user might
think it's a volume control. So I am really not sure what it should
look like.

[1]The Launchpad project page for rbpitch:
http://launchpad.net/rbpitch (I am currently going through the motions
to get rbpitch included in Maverick).

Thanks,

Sean

>
> CHARLINE POIRIER
> User Research Programme Lead
> Canonical
> 27th floor, 21-24 Millbank Tower
> London SW1P 4QP UK
>
> Tel: +44 (0) 20 7630 2491
> Mob: +44 (0) 78 8695 4514
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