Re: [Usability] Request for Totem usability review

[Kirk Bridger <kbridger shaw ca>]

Hi Philip,

First, thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback, and the
screenshots make it much easier.  Here are a few comments I thought of
while looking over the screenshot of the Video Search:

1 - Back and forward buttons don't clearly convey what the result will
be when activated.  Looking at the text it seems that it is navigating
through the search result pages.

Suggestion: re-label buttons or provide  a clearer indication as to what
will happen when the user activates them.  Some web pages for example
have page numbers that are clickable rather than just "Next" and
"Previous".  This also allows the user to skip to the middle of a large
number of search results

2 - There's no indication of the scope of the search - what am I
searching?  My local drives only?  My home folder?

Suggestion: provide some context for the search.  Indicate that this is
a local search, or that results from Google video are also included, for
example (I know it isn't, but I'm using it as an example of what needs
to be ruled out as possible for the user).

3 - The "X" next to the "Video Search" dropdown doesn't clearly indicate
what will close when I click it.
∘ If this is the same functionality as clicking the "Sidebar" button, is
there a need for two ways to invoke this functionality?  If it is
different, additional clarity in the interface would be useful.

4 - Since Linux does not rely on file extensions for file type
determination, is there a way to provide a dropdown of common video
types in addition to the free-text search?  Perhaps ways to save
searches?  The point being that I may not know the extension of the file
I want, nor parts of the name - how can I find that video?  An example
might be when I download something over the web and the browser stores
it somewhere with some cache name.  It would be nice if I could simply
find it because it is a video, not because I know anything about it's
filename.

5 - Video filenames do not provide any sense of context.  Sometimes
video files may be named identically, and the only way to differentiate
them is via the absolute or relative path information.

Suggestion: is it possible to have additional video information provided
in a tooltip on hover, such as video length, location, last played, etc?
 Another option would be to sacrifice some screen real estate and have a
video properties panel that displays the properties of the currently
selected video.


I hope these are valuable - if I'm not clear or you want to discuss
further please don't hesitate to contact me (or this list of course).
I'll send another email about the YouTube search, if that's OK.

Very exciting stuff coming in Totem!

Kirk

Philip Withnall wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Sat, 2007-12-01 at 19:44 -0800, Kirk Bridger wrote:
>> Hi Philip,
>>
>> Those screenshots would be great - I'd love to give feedback but don't
>> have a quick way of getting trunk anything.
> 
> You can find a screenshot of the YouTube plugin at [1], and a screenshot
> of the Video Search (Tracker) plugin at [2]. Unfortunately, by reviewing
> via screenshot I think you miss the ability to review how usable loading
> extra results as you scroll is, so hopefully someone else on the list
> will be able to do that?
> 
> Just shout if you need more screenshots, or anything else.
> 
> Thanks,
> Philip
> 
> [1]: http://tecnocode.co.uk/totem-youtube.png
> [2]: http://tecnocode.co.uk/totem-video-search.png
> 
>> Kirk
>>
>>
>>
>> Philip Withnall wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Would it be possible for someone to take a look at the usability of the
>>> recent additions to Totem? Specifically, we need the YouTube and Video
>>> Search sidebar plugins checked, as we're experimenting with loading
>>> search results from YouTube as you scroll down the video list, and it
>>> probably needs checking for usability concerns. :-)
>>>
>>> Although the YouTube plugin is in the latest 2.21 release, it's changed
>>> a little, so it would be best to look at a trunk build. If anybody wants
>>> them, I can make screenshots available.
>>>
>>> We'd also like to know if anyone has any ideas about how better to
>>> represent the information in those two sidebars vertically, or if the
>>> current method is OK.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Philip
>>>
>>>
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