[drupal-devel] [Fwd: Feedback from two usability sessions on CivicSpace 0.8.0.3]

[Bèr Kessels]

Alright, nice one, Kieran. 

I will try to boil this down from CS soup to Drupal Core. :) and will try to 
add some additional comments. 

Op vrijdag 18 februari 2005 20:02, schreef Dries Buytaert:

> First test:
> Scenario: Community organizer wants blogs, policies(Book), and contact
> information online.  Their site has been professionally customized to
> do only those three things using 0.8.0.x Democratica theme

Good scenario, allthough we should really avoid staring at blogs too much, we 
will loose focus of Drupals abilities to serve a huge width of cases! really!

> Feedback:
> -After user logged on they didn't know what to do because there were no
> action words inviting them to do something.  i.e. blogs instead of
> create a blog.
If this is implmented, which I hope it is, we should make rules on when 
something is an actioin and when not. We should not add "create blog" and 
leave "comments". That latter should then "edit comments".

I have noted this and will spend some time on actions & terms on the HIG 
meetings. 

> -User did not know how to create content because the user doesn't think
> of the site as a content management  site.  They think of it as a site
> that has blogs, contact info,etc.  Therefore, Create Content does not
> provide the cues to open the menu.

I have suggested a separate menu aimed at adding content before. See all the 
consistent.drupaldevs.org info. Will this issue be solved when "create 
content" is placed outside the adminstration menus, into its own edit or 
moderate block? 

> -Messages on the create content page are too small to be read.  "Might
> as well be in Swahili"
Is this not just a democratia problem?

> -User is overwhelmed by the three boxes of options and twelve options
> altogether.   The user does not know what a path alias is.   The user
> has to scroll down the screen because content dropping of the options
> boxes pushes the preview button off the screen.  Previewing is an
> unnecessary step.
We will try to get to a **general** solution on this, soon. Allthough the fact 
you present your user with all the options indicates you have permissions and 
settings set wrong. 
Seeting these correctly is an art itslef, but very important. E.g. my GF has a 
personal weblog on Drupal, but she sees no of the admin clutter. Only an 
adminstrator should, that adminstrator should be clutter-proof anyway. 

> Second Test:  Video capture installation of CivicSpace 0.8.0.3 and
> configuration of contacts, users, and an attempt to send an invitation
> email.
> Users were started at a firefox window with install.php screen in front
> of them.
> -Users found messages on first page overwhelmingly confusing.  They
> just clicked ok and moved to the next screen.
We should more often split content into *numbered* paragraphs. E.g. the 
default Drupal welcome msg is too long. should be split and numbered. 

> [snip CS specific]
> -Next they had to set permissions on the files directory.  They thought
> they had to be in the files directory to set the permissions.  But
> first they didn't know how to get out of the includes directory at the
> command line.
Users should be held away from the CL at all costs. A commandline is 
powerfull, yes, but amoungst the most un-friendliest interfaces around. Give 
ppl either FTP access, or present a simple UI in HTML/Drupal to handle these 
folders. 
That goes much further that the problematic (yes a lot of hosts have problems 
with it) autogeneration of files directories and perms.

> -I didn't give them the database name and password, so I had to come in
> and give the wrong user name, database name, and wrong prefix.
> Eventually, firefox suggested the right answers from the last install I
> did using that browser.  I'll have to clear the firefox browser cache
> for the next test.
Is not a Drupal Problem, IMO.

> -Once [snip] 
> -Next [snip] 
> -Two [snip]
Is not a Drupal Problem, IMO. CS and contact.module specific.

Regards,
 Bèr
-- 
 [ Bèr Kessels | Drupal services www.webschuur.com ]