[ubuntu-uk] Unity testing

[alan c]

On 08/04/12 20:03, Norman Silverstone wrote:
> < snip >
> 
>> I think we all ought to shout at the gimp folk.  Gimp is an incredibly 
>> capable program, and it is also the least intuitive and least workable 
>> that I have ever seen!  If the Gimp folk wanted to sell it for cash, 
>> there would be no chance!  It seems to me that FOSS developers never 
>> talk to potential (non-geek) users.  It's high time ordinary folk like 
>> us (folk who use and don't develop) got ourselves a voice.
> 
> Once upon a time ordinary folk did have a voice which was welcomed. I
> know because I was one of them. I was one of the first non-technical
> users of Ubuntu and was used as a bit of a guinea-pig by one of my sons
> who worked for Canonical. It was all very new to me and I found and
> filed bugs. But, as Canonical became more complex and diverse, so the
> sort of help which users like me could give appeared to be of less and
> less use to developers.  

When the other people in your street start using Ubuntu they will be
novices, and it is interesting to see that systematic testing is
slanted in that direction.
Canonical take user testing seriously and this is done in a systematic
and documented way. (This does not mean of course that one's own
tastes are catered for)

A bunch of links I have just found
http://design.canonical.com/2012/03/about-usability-testing-recruiting/
https://lists.launchpad.net/unity-design/msg07682.html
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/11/user-testing-of-unity-reveals-some-surprising-results/
http://design.canonical.com/2012/02/the-unity-design-process-and-how-you-can-play-a-part-in-it/
http://design.canonical.com/2011/04/unity-benchmark-usability-april-2011/
http://design.canonical.com/2010/11/usability-testing-of-unity/
-- 
alan cocks