Re: [Usability] Usability study for GNOME on netbooks?

["Tim McConnell" <tmick1 earthlink net>]

First let me apologize for the format this e-mail is in, my usual computer
died today so I am stuck with Outlook 2007 for now. 

Stormy posted: Figure out best way to get useful feedback
base tests on apps or distros?
It should be based on both, mainly because distros package some "non-GNOME"
applications. For example Fedora uses Firefox as a default web browser
instead of Epiphany.  

So the questions should be based on both the distro and apps, it should ask
what the user likes or dislikes about each application. Questions should
also ask about things that the user presently dislikes about GNOME in
general and give categories. An example of these categories could be Screen
control.

Some questions as far as how well the screen or application stays viewable
would be great to add. I took the liberty of posting a link to Stormy's Wiki
page on Fedora Forums
(http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=220389). One of the replies
that was posted was from someone who uses a Dell Mini 9, he states " On my
Dell Mini 9 some of the config/system-config GUIs are too long and the
OK/Cancel button are hidden below the bottom of the screen. This is with
Ubuntu 9.04"   So yes there are issues with applications staying on the
screen.  Is it limited to netbooks? No I don't believe it is, I was using
Fedora 9 and when I used Package Manager to install Eclipse The next screen
showing what packages were going to be installed went off the view area.
Much like the issue with the Mini 9. So I don't think just netbooks have
issues with screen size, I think it might be an issue with how GNOME
recognizes screen size/resolution settings and interacts with them. 

Questions like:
Have you ever had an application go out of the viewing area?
Which ones?
What changes could be made to correct this? 
Do you think it's a problem with GNOME or a window manager? 
Might be good to ask. 

I have a question or two about the wiki, first why is my name a link? Second
how do we put our thoughts to that page? 
Sorry for the long post. 

Tim McConnell  mailto:tmick1 earthlink net