usman idrees
December 10th, 2008, 10:19 AM
Testing and Evaluation of Usability in GNU/Linux (Ubuntu)
This research work (master’s thesis) is a part of masters in computer science. A test is conducted in order to test and evaluate Usability in GNU/Linux, taking Ubuntu 8.10 (as default settings and no package is installed from internet after Ubuntu installation) as system software. Think aloud technique is used during test and a total of six tasks were performed with 12 participants. To keep it more good and precise, Authors decided to put this on Ubuntu forum. The reason behind this is to get better understanding in order to give conclusion. We request every Ubuntu user to give comments on it so that we can make better conclusion on our findings. Following are the tasks and our findings.
Create an office document; write in it and save it as sample document with .doc extension.
We found participants have no problem rather some users try to save this file by giving the “.doc” extension manually with the file name instead of picking from the list.
Couple of participant try to create office document through gedit.
Search sample document from a specific option, delete and then restore it.
Most of them have problem to find the search option which was located in places. They have also a bit hurdled to find delete option which was replaced with move to trash in Ubuntu but overall they have done the job.
No confirmation message during deletion of an item
Open and play Music file from CD/DVD and Search an online video from browser and play.
Ryhtmbox is not a useful player as a default player for audio, it has many issues:
No proper message to play the audio CD or any track
Playlist or tracks list is not available on start
Not playing any song even you press the play button and until you don’t select the devices and particular track and then play (but no information for this)
Even though you can pause the song by clicking again on play button but there is no such display with play button and No stop button to stop the particular track
Double click on particular track make problem to play the song with totem movie player, it starts streaming, playing but paused (Nobody from testers could understand if Ryhtmbox is default player then why it is going on totem and why totem is not playing after double click on it?)
Flash player is still problem for play online video on Firefox
No information which binary file will be execute to resolve this problem
Information lack about restart the browser to affect your changes
Sign in on internet messenger using your msn ID.
No help provided (how to use pidgin) about protocols,
No clue after closing the pidgin which is still running and minimize in tray
No proper message and pidgin sign after minimizing in the tray (like MSN & yahoo have)
No voice chat and cam facility is available
Uninstall Audio CD Extractor software.
No button is present to install or uninstall it.
Many participants try to find this option from software sources and system settings as these options were in System.
No option to check whether it has uninstalled or not.
No information message prompted when participants uncheck/check the box to uninstall/install software before activating “apply changes” button.
Apply screen saver for 1 min., change Desktop Resolution and restore it.
No apply button to confirm about whether it has applied or not.
Less informative.
It demands Password if you change resolution to another one, then keep it and again when u restore you default resolution, it does not demand password.
When you change resolution and keep that resolution then the minimized items on desktop are gone, and you can only access this by restoring it.
If you change resolution, keep it for some time and you restore it. You will get a screen resolution problem which you can only fix by restarting it.
During resolution change we noted that all shortcut position on panel is changed from actual located positions.
During test we were helpless to restore the resolution when participants chose 4th option (600X.......) and the only option was pressing tab button and guessing the apply button and then press enter.
we know that it is too much data to read but plz reply.
have a nice day
This research work (master’s thesis) is a part of masters in computer science. A test is conducted in order to test and evaluate Usability in GNU/Linux, taking Ubuntu 8.10 (as default settings and no package is installed from internet after Ubuntu installation) as system software. Think aloud technique is used during test and a total of six tasks were performed with 12 participants. To keep it more good and precise, Authors decided to put this on Ubuntu forum. The reason behind this is to get better understanding in order to give conclusion. We request every Ubuntu user to give comments on it so that we can make better conclusion on our findings. Following are the tasks and our findings.
Create an office document; write in it and save it as sample document with .doc extension.
We found participants have no problem rather some users try to save this file by giving the “.doc” extension manually with the file name instead of picking from the list.
Couple of participant try to create office document through gedit.
Search sample document from a specific option, delete and then restore it.
Most of them have problem to find the search option which was located in places. They have also a bit hurdled to find delete option which was replaced with move to trash in Ubuntu but overall they have done the job.
No confirmation message during deletion of an item
Open and play Music file from CD/DVD and Search an online video from browser and play.
Ryhtmbox is not a useful player as a default player for audio, it has many issues:
No proper message to play the audio CD or any track
Playlist or tracks list is not available on start
Not playing any song even you press the play button and until you don’t select the devices and particular track and then play (but no information for this)
Even though you can pause the song by clicking again on play button but there is no such display with play button and No stop button to stop the particular track
Double click on particular track make problem to play the song with totem movie player, it starts streaming, playing but paused (Nobody from testers could understand if Ryhtmbox is default player then why it is going on totem and why totem is not playing after double click on it?)
Flash player is still problem for play online video on Firefox
No information which binary file will be execute to resolve this problem
Information lack about restart the browser to affect your changes
Sign in on internet messenger using your msn ID.
No help provided (how to use pidgin) about protocols,
No clue after closing the pidgin which is still running and minimize in tray
No proper message and pidgin sign after minimizing in the tray (like MSN & yahoo have)
No voice chat and cam facility is available
Uninstall Audio CD Extractor software.
No button is present to install or uninstall it.
Many participants try to find this option from software sources and system settings as these options were in System.
No option to check whether it has uninstalled or not.
No information message prompted when participants uncheck/check the box to uninstall/install software before activating “apply changes” button.
Apply screen saver for 1 min., change Desktop Resolution and restore it.
No apply button to confirm about whether it has applied or not.
Less informative.
It demands Password if you change resolution to another one, then keep it and again when u restore you default resolution, it does not demand password.
When you change resolution and keep that resolution then the minimized items on desktop are gone, and you can only access this by restoring it.
If you change resolution, keep it for some time and you restore it. You will get a screen resolution problem which you can only fix by restarting it.
During resolution change we noted that all shortcut position on panel is changed from actual located positions.
During test we were helpless to restore the resolution when participants chose 4th option (600X.......) and the only option was pressing tab button and guessing the apply button and then press enter.
we know that it is too much data to read but plz reply.
have a nice day