Research, Outreachy 2018-19
This is the project page for the usability and UX research being done by Clarissa Lima as part of an Outreachy internship, 2018-19.
Background to this project:
Potential research topics
New unlock/login screen designs
These are new designs that haven't been implemented yet. The goal would be to conduct usability testing prior to development starting.
- Key research questions:
- Can participants successfully unlock and login?
- Do participants understand all the user interface elements?
- Test format: this is tricky due to the nature of the design. One option might be to use high-resolution mockups shown full-screen on a laptop, in order to mimic the final UI. The test would be conducted in a similar way to using paper prototypes.
New sound settings
GNOME's sound settings have recently had a UI overhaul. The new UI is in the development version and is yet to be released to users.
- Key research questions:
- Can participants successfully use the settings for a range of common tasks?
- Is everything in the UI clear and easy to understand?
- Test format: test would be conducted as a classic usability test, using the development version of the Settings app.
Updated region and language settings
The way that keyboard layouts can be reordered in the Region and Language settings has recently changed. There are also plans to update the design of some of the settings windows.
- This test would be similar to the sound settings item above, but for the region and language settings. It is probably dependent on the settings windows being updated, though.
Updated list design patterns
The design team have recently been working on updating the standard UI design patterns for lists. These current exist as static mockups and as HTML prototypes.
- Key research questions:
- Can participants successfully use each variation of the list pattern?
- There are a few specific areas of uncertainty to focus on: do participants understand the difference between sensitive and insensitive list rows? Are they able to distinguish when rows contain multiple actions? Are they able to successfully reorder an editable list?
- Test format: testing would use HTML prototypes. These would need to be adapted to provide a realistic test for each list design pattern.
New application permission settings
The Settings application has a new Applications section, which is currently being developed and is yet to be released to users.
- Key research questions: similar to the other settings topics. Also: question about navigation to the application settings - is that where participants will naturally go for these settings?
- Test format: same as the other settings panels.
App menu retirement and new application menu arrangements
GNOME is currently rearranging some of its menus. This work is ongoing and is yet to be released to users.
- Key research questions:
- Are participants able to find the menu items that have been moved? This primarily relates to preferences, help and about menu items.
- Each variation of the menu designs needs to be tested.
- Test format: testing would involve using a set of applications, using their development version.
New visual designs
- The design team are currently exploring options for updating GNOME's visual design. These explorations currently involve static mockups and some initial experimental changes to the visual theme.
- Potential research questions:
- What mental associations do participants have for GNOME's existing visual style?
- What mental associations do participants have for each of the visual styles under consideration?
Test format: the test format for this task is a little tricky. One possibility might be to conduct a comparative test of two visual styles, using Microsoft's product reaction cards.
Files menus
There are some outstanding issues with the organisation of the menus in the Files application. We could test proposals to these issues, to see if they are effective.
- Potential research questions:
- Can users successfully create new folders?
- Test format: testing would use a development version of the Files app. Multiple versions could be provided, each with a different UI to test.