If some usability test procedure will be available I volunteer to make tests with my ipod mini around (rockboxed of course). I think that -dev list is the place to speak about usability concerns. It is much more related to development than to support.
Marcin 2009/11/24 Karl Kurbjun <kkurb...@gmail.com> > > > On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Sam Pattuzzi < > sam.pattu...@googlemail.com> wrote: > >> OK, what I think I will do is conduct a usability test with my family. >> I'm going to have a go at building a list of most common tasks with >> Rockbox and share them here before I start. Ideas for these tasks are >> welcome, I'm thinking along the lines of: >> * Load music >> * Play music >> * As above for podcasts >> * Save a bookmark >> * Resume a bookmark >> * Make a playlist >> * Should installation be included? >> >> One thing I want opinions on before I do that though is, how important >> is the manual? Should it have been read religiously before touching the >> device? Should it be there just in case they need a hand? At what point >> is it a problem if the user has to refer to the manual? >> >> Looking forward to responses. >> >> Sam >> >> > I think it is a great idea to do a usability study on Rockbox. I think a > larger sample size than just your family is needed for a useful study > though. It should cross a large demographic range too. > > Just a fore-warning: the usability study may not render any actual changes > as development is volunteer based and is largely driven by what the person > doing the work feels is the best way to solve a problem. We currently do > not have a formal "Human Interface Guidelines" which are followed or used to > my knowledge beyond trying to make it as consistent as possible across all > targets. Also keep in mind that there are hardware limitations where, for > example, things like certain button combinations may not be possible > depending on the target. > > If the usability study had a large enough sample size then it could > potentially be used as a more objective source of how something should > appear to the user. > > Personally, I think it would be ideal for the user just be given a "quick > start" introduction to Rockbox and then be able to do your standard jukebox > tasks without referring to the manual. I think it is fine for the user to > have to refer to the manual for more advanced features that are beyond the > scope of most players on the market. > > Another note I have is that a usability study does not have to be limited > to the software. It should also include the manual by testing tasks that > the user "should" refer to the manual for. > > In short: basic tasks should be easy to accomplish without having to read > detailed instructions, while more advanced topics should have the > information intuitively located for the user to accomplish the desired task. > > You might want to take a look at a gnome usability report that has a nice > summary of the results along with detailed information from each > participant: > http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/ut1_report/report_main.html. > >
