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 Lyn Paul [email protected] 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, Okular, 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 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]).