Since I haven't been giving back through contrib, here's one: We did a usability test (filming users while they performed specificly assigned tasks) of BlufftonToday.com. The biggest problem our users had, as it turns out, was that there were often three or more ways to solve the same problem (do I post my meeting annoucenment in forums? as an event? in my blog? post it to the non-Drupal classifieds?) Now Drupal only runs 70% of the site, so not all the results are Drupal related. if the devel group is interested, I'll see if I can get some corporate permission to share the results (if not the actual video) for those who are interested. -- Ken Rickard drupal: agentken gmail: agentrickard
The biggest problem our users had, as it turns out, was that there were often three or more ways to solve the same problem (do I post my meeting annoucenment in forums? as an event? in my blog? post it to the non-Drupal classifieds?)
Now Drupal only runs 70% of the site, so not all the results are Drupal related. if the devel group is interested, I'll see if I can get some corporate permission to share the results (if not the actual video) for those who are interested.
thanks for the offer, Ken. IMO, there isn't much that the drupal development team can do to fix this problem. it is an information architecture problem first, and then Drupal can be used to skillfully implement your plan. expecting drupal to address this is unrealistic IMO. -moshe
The biggest problem our users had, as it turns out, was that there were often three or more ways to solve the same problem (do I post my meeting annoucenment in forums? as an event? in my blog? post it to the non-Drupal classifieds?)
Now Drupal only runs 70% of the site, so not all the results are Drupal related. if the devel group is interested, I'll see if I can get some corporate permission to share the results (if not the actual video) for those who are interested.
thanks for the offer, Ken.
IMO, there isn't much that the drupal development team can do to fix this problem. it is an information architecture problem first, and then Drupal can be used to skillfully implement your plan. expecting drupal to address this is unrealistic IMO.
Ken's comments are very interesting (and ring authentic to me). I understand and agree with Moshe that this is a problem that is not being dealt with by Drupal right now as an information architecture problem. However I also believe that there are solution sets that will deal with many common problems (like the one's that Ken has outlined). If we had another module "layer" and made the system easier for folks to create distros it would go a long way towards improving usability for a large number of users (IMHO).
-moshe
Ken's comments are very interesting (and ring authentic to me). I understand and agree with Moshe that this is a problem that is not being dealt with by Drupal right now as an information architecture problem. However I also believe that there are solution sets that will deal with many common problems (like the one's that Ken has outlined). If we had another module "layer" and made the system easier for folks to create distros it would go a long way towards improving usability for a large number of users (IMHO).
Agreed. While this might not be Drupal's fault, I'm confident this is a common problem. If there is anything we can do to overcome common problems, I'm all ears. I, for one, am very much interested in the results of their study, as well as their proposed solution(s). -- Dries Buytaert :: http://www.buytaert.net/
On 22-Nov-05, at 10:23 PM, Dries Buytaert wrote:
Ken's comments are very interesting (and ring authentic to me). I understand and agree with Moshe that this is a problem that is not being dealt with by Drupal right now as an information architecture problem. However I also believe that there are solution sets that will deal with many common problems (like the one's that Ken has outlined). If we had another module "layer" and made the system easier for folks to create distros it would go a long way towards improving usability for a large number of users (IMHO).
Agreed. While this might not be Drupal's fault, I'm confident this is a common problem. If there is anything we can do to overcome common problems, I'm all ears. I, for one, am very much interested in the results of their study, as well as their proposed solution(s).
I also think the answers would be interesting but also believe, much like custom themes and Jeff's great post (see http:// jeff.viapositiva.net/archives/2005/11/on_the_complexi.html), that the solutions will be very site/audience specific. Ken: at some point, we're going to want to work on a citizen journalism install profile...I'm surprised the concept didn't come up during the one core/many distributions (or maybe people were just waiting for me to harp on this :P ). Adrian's install system....actually, wait, that's the whole problem....*Drupal's* install system, which Adrian has been the main person working on, can/ will support the concept. Adrian and Drumm (his work on update system is hand in hand with install) are the two "maintainers/architects" currently...I'm sure they wouldn't be opposed to further assistance here. Continuing to look at optimizing core and making choices about what goes in/out is a somewhat useful discussion...but needs to be tempered by contributions. As evidenced by the pathauto discussion, there is hidden complexity between features/need (node IDs needn't be displayed) and performance (oops! pathauto may have some additional usability/management issues which need work before it makes it into core). So: in general, the group of us will act as gatekeepers to ensure that core remains stable and lean (perhaps leaner than usability might dictate) until code is mature enough. And: who's signing up to be the path.module maintainer(s)? A citizen journalism install profile would in essence have two audiences: one being the gardeners/editors of the site, geared toward managing users (troll issues etc.), highlighting/organizing/ moderating content, and some basic site administration. The other audience would be the potential citizen journalists and readers -- reading/being notified of content (from "main" posts to comments) of interest to them, seeing interfaces that bubble-up content (popular, highly rated, rated by their friends, etc.), and submitting base content types. At the very least, this is a custom front page and an explorative interface that hides initial complexity ("I'm just a news reader") but lets users easily get to more complexity as needed ("what is this whole submitting content thing? oh, this is easy..."). Man, this list is just like the old days, before the whole issues-to- the-list thing...lots of fun, and I'm excited and energized to be talking through some of these ideas. -- Boris Mann Vancouver 778-896-2747 San Francisco 415-367-3595 SKYPE borismann http://www.bryght.com
participants (5)
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Boris Mann -
Dan Robinson -
Dries Buytaert -
Ken Rickard -
Moshe Weitzman