Re: [Usability] Reaching Users

[Karl Lattimer <karl qdh org uk>]

On Tue, 2009-12-08 at 16:34 +0000, Calum Benson wrote: 
> On 8 Dec 2009, at 12:13, Karl Lattimer wrote:
> 
> > I largely agree with this, making a usability improvement via the bug
> > tracker means the maintainer or developer needs to understand your
> > complaint, agree with it and find the time to implement it. 
> > 
> > This isn't ideal
> 
> Indeed it's not.  On the other hand, getting usability issues recognised as being as severe and necessary to fix as functionality issues was a great step forward when it first started to happen in GNOME 8 or 9 years ago.  And bugzilla probably was the best way to do that at that time, because making developers acutely aware of those issues was part of the initial education process.
> 
> Nowadays we could probably do something better, but that said, I've yet to see any usability issue tracking system that I particularly like, and/or that is different enough from a good bug reporting system to make it worth the effort of learning two similar-but-different systems just to keep them separate.  It's certainly something worth talking about, though.

Consider the following features;

Multiple packages, or applications; 
e.g. this usability bug effects gnome-panel, gnome-panel-applets

Subject matter, a list of broad usability topics;
e.g. opening files, going online, reading my email etc...

Overview of required work by category as a bunch of "work units";
e.g. Graphic Designer - icon design & metaphor improvements.

Attach mockups as interactive slideshows, multiple slideshows permitted;
e.g. Images sequences with active areas marked out which link to the
next slide, easy enough with some simple javascript

Make it easy enough so anyone can create entries, and browse the
database, or volunteer to take on a specific work unit, each usability
feature can be voted up or down... This would work for something as
simple as "application has frightening error messages" to "the
interaction between nautilus and x-package fails at drag and drop" or
even, "here's a completely new interaction model for using network
manager" - it doesn't matter how wild or outlandish the idea is, if the
work is good and gets noticed then the wisdom of crowds would take
over... Especially if you add a simple RSS field with title+description
in it for people who are interested to have a poke and vote.

I hate the new microsoft windows 7 ad, where they say that "I helped
create it" etc... because they are actors, in an advert, MS payed for,
however in essence what they're saying is true, they listened to their
users and I think that's what the original poster (whoever they are? -
assuming they're not called kerberos?) was trying to point out.

So I think the notion would be to improve connectivity between users and
the software... something which is purely a place for usability and
promoted within the desktop appealing for help... e.g. About GNOME ->
Help make gnome better...

Even if maybe the about gnome had a lot more in depth information about
what GNOME is, and what it's comprised of entirely... e.g. networking is
done by network manager, email is done by evolution, IM is done by
empathy etc... etc... etc... just so people can get a rough
understanding of what's what and how it fits together.

Just an initial bunch of thoughts...

K,