Run usability tests on node add and edit forms

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Run at least three sessions to test the usability of drupal's content
creation (node-add) and content-editing (node-edit) forms.

To do this you will need 3 or more volunteers who will evaluate drupal 6. 
It is important that everyone understands that drupal is being tested, not
the evaluator (your volunteers).  The evaluator can not pass or fail.

Ask each of the volunteers to create and edit nodes on a drupal 6 site. 
Give them a scenario that will inspire them to do it realistically.  e.g.
"Your soccer club needs a web site with about pages and news articles or a
blog".

You might like to give them more detailed instructions and/or specific
tasks.  See the UMN formal usability testing plan [1] for ideas on how to
do this.  Your tasks and instructions need not be as detailed or complex,
but they should give the evaluator a clear goal and help inspire creative
things like colors, setting the site name and slogan.

To familiarize yourself with the tasks and usability tests, it is useful to
do you're own test and report, before running the tests with evaluators. 
This will help you gain confidence with finding issues and taking notes on
them.  The evaluator must be able to do all the tasks through drupal's UI
and not need to write any code or change files.

While observing new users, take note of:

*  what the evaluator wants to do first
*  where the evaluator gets lost or confused
*  what the user expected
*  where the evaluator spends their time in the first 30 minutes of the session
*  where the evaluator spends their time in the first few seconds of each
new UI / page
*  when and where they search for help
*  where they search for help

Perhaps the most valuable information from a usability test is knowing what
the user expected.  This makes it easier to discover usability bugs and
suggest solutions.  You should spend some time immediately after each test
(while it's still fresh in the evaluator's mind) debriefing the evaluator
to find out THEIR answers to the above questions.  You might find that you
misinterpreted their behavior.  Some evaluators find this difficult and
begin to feel like THEY are being tested.  If this is the case, don't
pressure them to give you better feedback but help them to relax, remind
them NO answer is right or wrong and ask simpler questions about how they
felt emotionally about the tasks they found difficult.  If the evaluator
can't give you good feedback then don't persist.  You still have notes from
watching their behavior, right?

Write a report that summarizes your findings. We're looking for a level of
detail and format similar to Factory Joe's Usability report [2] on drupal 6
beta 1.  See also the reports from GHOP tasks #8 [3] and #7 [4].

There are two completed GHOP tasks that are usability tests like this one;
#7 [5] (d.o [6]), and #8 [7] (d.o [8]).  Those tasks focussed on drupal
installation.  This task focuses on site configuration and customization.

Before planning your usability tests read about how to do usability testing:

*  http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000183.php
*  http://openusability.org/
*  http://keycontent.org/tiki-index.php?page=Usability+Tools
*  http://factoryjoe.pbwiki.com/FeedbackForDrupal6

Deliverables: This task is complete when the report has been submitted to
by the student, and reviewed and approved by the mentor or other
appropriate drupal community member.  The report should be made available
in a widely available format like plain text, html or PDF.  

You can include screenshots for bonus points.  These could be annotated
using flickr's annotate tool.  (Tag them with drupalui [9] if using flickr.)

Bevan [10] is the owner / mentor of this task.  Bevan is working on
improving node add and edit forms as part of the Season of Usability [11].
 The results of this task will be a direct contribution to this project.

[1] UMN formal usability testing plan http://groups.drupal.org/node/7929
[2] Factory Joe's Usability report
http://factoryjoe.pbwiki.com/FeedbackForDrupal6
[3] #8 report http://swizzy.frih.net/projects/52/drupal-usability-test-report
[4] #7 report http://ijailbreak.com/drupal.html
[5] GHOP #7
http://code.google.com/p/google-highly-open-participation-drupal/issues/detail?i
d=7
[6] d.o #7 http://drupal.org/node/197219
[7] GHOP #8
http://code.google.com/p/google-highly-open-participation-drupal/issues/detail?i
d=8
[8] d.o #8 http://drupal.org/node/197221
[9] drupalui tag on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/drupalui/
[10] Bevan http://drupal.org/user/49989
[11] http://groups.drupal.org/season-usability

Original issue reported on code.google.com by b.ru...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2008 at 9:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

d.o source issue: http://drupal.org/node/211110
d.o student issue: http://drupal.org/node/211335

Original comment by b.ru...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2008 at 9:54

• Added labels: DrupalIssue-211335

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by acli...@gmail.com on 23 Jan 2008 at 2:52

• Changed state: Deleted