The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 1

Looking Back and Moving Forward The Past, Present and Future of the KDE Usability Project

August 9 2008 celeste@.org KDE Usability Project usability.kde.org

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 2 What is the KDE Usability Project?

 Promote usability

 Educate developers

 Practice usability

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 3

Past

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 4

In the beginning...... everyone was a developer

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 5 In the beginning...

For developers, by developers

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 6 Wary of “Experts”

Mo' users mo' problems

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 7

Usamajility? Incomplete knowledge of usability

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 8 Usabmajility?

Kastle 2003

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 9 Usamajility?

Conferences, Blogging, Reports

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 10

Wary of “Experts” Few “usability experts” involved

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 11 Wary of “Experts”

Usability FUD

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 12 Wary of “Experts”

Credibility/Competency

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 13 Wary of “Experts”

Signal:Noise

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 14

Present

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 15 Successes

The Word Is Out Usability is cool

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 16 Successes: The Word Is Out

We want usability now what?

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 17 Successes

We Got Some Stuff Done KDE PIM, KOffice, , Printing...

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 18 Successes: We Got Some Stuff Done

20+ reports from 2005-2007

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 19 Failures

Where Is Everybody? We hit critical mass...

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 20 Failures: Where is Everybody?

... and imploded

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 21 Failures

What Guidelines? HIG development is slow

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 22 Failures: What Guidelines?

Key authors went AFK IRL

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 23 Problems

Missing the “User” in UCD Users have minimal involvement

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 24 Problems: Missing the “User” in UCD

Ineffective avenues for user involvement

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 25

Future

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 26

KDE != Usable (yet) Slow but steady progress

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 27 KDE != Usable (yet)

One person can only do so much

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 28

Institutionalize Usability Attack from the top -> down

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 29 Institutionalize Usability

Usability is on the fringe

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 30 Institutionalize Usability

Global view of usability

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 31

Educate Developers Usability goes beyond testing

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 32 Educate Developers

User Research! User Research!

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 33

Developer usability methods

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 34

How and when to integrate usability

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 35

Need More Designers WTB Contributors PST

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 36 Need More Designers

Arsenal of methods

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 37 Need More Designers

Solve the harder problems

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 38

Get Users Involved In a calm and orderly fashion

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 39 Get Users Involved

User Research!

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 40 Get Users Involved

Testing before release

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 41 Get Users Involved

Put the “user” back in to UCD

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 42

Transition Period

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 43 Activities

 Become more involved in development

 Assist and promote KDE User Research Profiles

 Work with the user community

 Blog about usability in KDE and open source

 Continue work on the Human Interface Guidelines

 Review UIs and design better ones

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 44 More Information

 KDE Usability Project usability.kde.org

 KDE4 Human Interface Guidelines Come to the Wednesday workshop for more information

 OpenUsability openusability.org

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 45 KDE HCI Workshop (Wednesday)

 Research Methods for Usability and Design Learn about the different research activities (some involving users) which can improve the usability of your software  User Groups and Personas Learn about the importance of user research and get help with your KDE User Research Profiles  Plasma and HCI Learn about current HCI issues and future goals of the Plasma Desktop  What's New in the KDE4 Human Interface Guidelines Review new patterns and guidelines, see some common HIG violations, and ask questions about uncommon cases and scenarios  KDE4 Open UI Workshop Bring screenshots and questions to get design help with during this interactive show-and-tell session

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 46

Questions?

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 47 About Celeste

 Open Source  KDE KDE Usability Project and HCI Working Group  Kubuntu Council  OpenUsability Season of Usability Mentor  Industry  User-Centered Design, Inc. Senior Interaction Architect  Weblog on usability in open source software weblog.obso1337.org  Email celeste (AT) kde (DOT) org

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected]) The Past, Present, and Future of the KDE Usability Project 48

Wrap Up

Akademy 2008 Celeste Lyn Paul ([email protected])