Usability experiment between 2 DE's

[vgaldikas]

Hello guys,

I have a college report to write about the development of Linux GUIs. So basically I want to include this experiment in it where I pick 5 tasks, and document the steps needed to take in order to complete them tasks in 2 different environment.

In order for this to be an unbiased choice of tasks, I want to ask yous guys to come up with a list of 5 tasks with which I could do this test.

Again, to make sure that tasks are not biased I will not say which 2 DEs are gonna be compared.

Thanks everyone in advance!

[rg4w]

Perhaps common tasks would be a good start:
1. Launch LibreOffice and write a short memo, save it to a new folder in the Documents folder.
2. Create and send an email.
3. Change the password for your user account.
4. Find and install a new application, such as a simple game.
5. Identify any third-party drivers in your system, and find out of they're the most recent stable versions.

These examples touch on the essentials of an OS: using apps, adjusting system settings, and maintaining hardware compatibility.

Looking forward to seeing what others come up with. Good thread.

[vgaldikas]

Perhaps common tasks would be a good start:
1. Launch LibreOffice and write a short memo, save it to a new folder in the Documents folder.
2. Create and send an email.
3. Change the password for your user account.
4. Find and install a new application, such as a simple game.
5. Identify any third-party drivers in your system, and find out of they're the most recent stable versions.

These examples touch on the essentials of an OS: using apps, adjusting system settings, and maintaining hardware compatibility.

Looking forward to seeing what others come up with. Good thread.

Nice list! Just probably would remove the 2nd and 5th option.

2nd - because in both cases you will be using Ubuntu software center which is basically same all across the board. As far as i know? Well ofcourse could be argued that it could be more difficult to find it in some DEs than others maybe...

5th - similar reason.. you will either be using web based e-mail, or Thunder bird.. Again quite desktop environment agnostic task...

Thanks again for your help, and keep them coming!

[tartalo]

You should also test how easy it is to use several programs and instances of the same program simultaneously.

Example:

You are expecting an email, so you keep an eye on it, while you edit PHP, HTML & CSS files of the website that you are testing in Firefox, Chromium and Opera. You also have several terminal windows open to monitor your own web server, upload files to a server somewhere else... Once you receive the expected email, you download the attached compressed file, you uncompress it, open one of the enclosed PDFs and copy the relevant data to an spreadsheet. Finally you copy the documents you received by email and the spreadsheet you created to your pendrive. All this while you listen to good music.

[vgaldikas]

You should also test how easy it is to use several programs and instances of the same program simultaneously.

Example:

You are expecting an email, so you keep an eye on it, while you edit PHP, HTML & CSS files of the website that you are testing in Firefox, Chromium and Opera. You also have several terminal windows open to monitor your own web server, upload files to a server somewhere else... Once you receive the expected email, you download the attached compressed file, you uncompress it, open one of the enclosed PDFs and copy the relevant data to an spreadsheet. Finally you copy the documents you received by email and the spreadsheet you created to your pendrive. All this while you listen to good music.

Nice scenario lol But would a DE have a lot of impact on this? Wouldn't this be more reliant on hardware? Like better CPU, the amount and type of available memory etc??

[rg4w]

Nice list! Just probably would remove the 2nd and 5th option.

2nd - because in both cases you will be using Ubuntu software center which is basically same all across the board. As far as i know? Well ofcourse could be argued that it could be more difficult to find it in some DEs than others maybe...

5th - similar reason.. you will either be using web based e-mail, or Thunder bird.. Again quite desktop environment agnostic task...
Did you mean #4?

If so, not all DEs provide the same ready access to the Ubuntu Software Center, so that may be worth reconsideration.

The trick with #2 is that you need to know that the email client is named "Thunderbird", or be able to figure out that you can access it from the Mail icon in the top panel. Given the central role email plays, and the different way DEs provide to access apps, I still think that one's a good test.

#5 is useful because hardware compatibility is the #1 problem with new users, and that's actually not done with the Software Center, but through System Settings, and is probably the most technically sophisticated of the tasks (and sadly necessary on most PCs where Ubuntu wasn't preinstalled when they bought it).

[grahammechanical]

Different desktop environments use different utilities. A desktop environment is not some kind of desktop theme. The file managers will be different, So, will the web browsers, the email clients, and so on. The developers of each environment have their own ideas of what a desktop should look like and how a desktop should work.

There are big differences between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu outside of the choice of wallpapers. But then again, every computer operating system has to do similar things. They just do it slightly different.

To learn from this exercise you should be comparing the thinking behind the development of the different desktop environments. Ask yourself why did the developers of KDE, Gnome, Xfce, and LXDE decide to spend their time and resources to develop these environments? What need did they see that needed to be filled? Why did they want something different?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

Regards.

[Frogs Hair]

How a user approaches a task may differ in terms of opening an application based on experience with the desktop environment being used.

[skunkarific]

I did a study exactly like that to learn how to design my DE.

I used the list first given, but I was not comparing DEs, rather making mine awesome for my customers.

Try these?
1. Browse files on the computer.
2. Send a file across the network to a server share.
3. Find a program not listed immediately in the menu.
4. Place music in a the /home/username/music folder then listen to it with a full featured player (Banshee, AmaroK etc).
5. Edit a photo.
6. Burn an audio CD (Brasero Vs K3B etc)

[rg4w]

I did a study exactly like that to learn how to design my DE.

I used the list first given, but I was not comparing DEs, rather making mine awesome for my customers.

Try these?
1. Browse files on the computer.
2. Send a file across the network to a server share.
3. Find a program not listed immediately in the menu.
4. Place music in a the /home/username/music folder then listen to it with a full featured player (Banshee, AmaroK etc).
5. Edit a photo.
6. Burn an audio CD (Brasero Vs K3B etc)

Those are really good.

[vgaldikas]

Different desktop environments use different utilities. A desktop environment is not some kind of desktop theme. The file managers will be different, So, will the web browsers, the email clients, and so on. The developers of each environment have their own ideas of what a desktop should look like and how a desktop should work.

There are big differences between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu outside of the choice of wallpapers. But then again, every computer operating system has to do similar things. They just do it slightly different.

To learn from this exercise you should be comparing the thinking behind the development of the different desktop environments. Ask yourself why did the developers of KDE, Gnome, Xfce, and LXDE decide to spend their time and resources to develop these environments? What need did they see that needed to be filled? Why did they want something different?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

Regards.

I realize that all DE's are there "for a reason".. I never said that there should be that is the best at everything.

All I want to achieve, is to run a simple experiment in order ro see which one may be more suited for everyday use.