New look and feel discussions

[Jonathan Roberts]

Hey :)

2008/5/25  <duffy at dangerouslyinc.com>:

> I think usability testing should be the next step. Usability testing is
> going to identify what exactly we are doing wrong right now. I think we
> mostly know our weaknesses, but we might not understand exactly why the
> problems are occurring and I think usability testing will get us there.
> Note that usability testing isn't about getting answers on how to fix it,
> but we'll certainly be able to identify how exactly the site is causing
> user frustration and be able to learn from those mistakes.
>
> When we know what mistakes we've made, we should then work on mocking up
> potential solutions to those mistakes.

OK, that sounds like a cool approach, and usability testing could be
fun to run :)

> So who do we test? It depends on the task. Here are my guesses task-for-task:
>
> 1. In one click, download the x86 Fedora Desktop Live Media ISO image. (or
> whichever we deem is/would be the most popular / best for new users)
>
> We want anyone from less-experienced folks to experts to be able to do this.
>
> 2. Easily access to support tailored for NEW users.
>
> We probably care mostly about brand-new users & less-experienced users on
> this one. Experts have other venues for assistance.
>
> 5. See / Learn about all of the cool things you can make and do with
> Fedora and how other people use Fedora.
>
> I think this one is really targeted at everyone from not a user yet =>
> newbie => experienced user.
>
> 7. Give back to Fedora. (different from joining. Joining is more of a
> commitment)
>
> Newbies/folks without time to become a regular contributor? This task
> probably applies to anybody though.
>
> 9. Get Fedora bling! Spread Fedora!
>
> Everyone wants this!
>
> What do you think about the suggestions above? Based on them, I'd say we
> should give volunteers the following tests:

My only comment is the ones that I've left in, is there anyway to do
these at all on the current website? We don't want to be asking users
to do something impossible! I'm not even sure if some of these have
information on the wiki...

Besides that question, the list rocks :)

> Is anyone here willing to help run tests? If we had five folks willing to
> do 2-3 tests each we'd likely have more than enough data to work with.

I'm happy to volunteer. I can certainly get my hands on plenty of
newbie folks, from various backgrounds...
>
> Would it be useful if I ran a sample test or two and recorded them and
> made them available to see? Are there any willing victi^H^H^H^H^H
> volunteers that wouldn't mind trying out the 10 tasks and telling me over
> ekiga/skype/irc/etc how it goes while they do it and while I observe over
> VNC? (is there an easy way to record the VNC session while you watch it?)

Lol, again I'm more than willing to be the guinea pig, but will I need
a static IP for VNC to work properly? I've never used it outside of my
LAN.

I expect the easiest way to record a VNC session would just be to run
Istanbul? I'm pretty sure you can record a single window...

Best,

Jon