GNOME Usability Study Report :: Customization Tasks

GNOME Usability Study Report :: Customization Tasks

July 2001
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Customization Tasks

As part of developing a baseline metric for usability issues in GNOME, we asked users to perform common customization tasks, including customizing the panel by adding, rearranging and removing items, changing the background and changing the fonts. We asked participants to customize the panel by adding a clock that displayed the date as well as the time. We asked for a specific type of clock so that users would have to search for it, and in doing so interact with the system more. In the wording of the task, we did not use the word 'panel'; participants were simply asked to add the clock to the bottom part of the screen so it appeared alongside the other icons. Users summarized the experience in the following words:
"I didn't know where to go for a clock, I needed hints...there were other things that were clock related that were confusing..." (P2)
"It took too long to add a clock, it was tough." (P3, P9)
"There were a lot of menus, a lot to go through." (P3)
"The sheer number of possibilities for where a clock could be surprised me...if I had to do it again I'm not sure I'd know how or if I could find clocks again." (P2)
"Some things were accessible that a novice user would not want or need, but other simple things were buried deep...you had to go far in to access something like clocks." (P4)
The two major obstacles to users' success locating clocks:

The multiple ways to add a clock to the panel, shown below, all involve going to the Applets menu and in some cases using the right-mouse button as well.

Despite the multitude of ways to find a clock, there was a strong pattern among users' expectations of where to find clocks. Only 1 out of 12 users went directly to the panel to add a clock, adding it by right-clicking on the panel and choosing Panel > Add to Panel > Applets > Clocks. It took one user, who in previous tasks demonstrated familiarity with the right-mouse button, 10 minutes of unsuccessful searching before he thought to right-click on the panel.

All remaining 11 users looked for a clock elsewhere. Of those, 8 looked in the Settings menu. One user, who received a hint while in Programs > Settings that clocks were not in the Programs menu, looked two more times in the Settings menu before moving on. This confirms the strong expectation users had that clocks should be in the Settings menu.

In addition to the Settings menu, 3 users clicked the Control Center icon, searching the Control Center for clocks until they received hints from the study moderator that no clocks existed in the Control Center.

Two users, given hints from the study moderator to look at the panel, were unsure of how to add a clock even as they moused over the very options that would let them complete this task. Both were guided to the panel and went to the GNOME Main Menu (foot) > Panel > Add to Panel, but were not convinced they had found a successful way to add a clock. They did not open the Applets submenu where they would have found clocks.

Applets Menu:

Clock Names:

Confusing Submenus:

Next we asked users to further customize their panel by removing a clock from the panel.

Contextual Menu:

Icons in Menus:

Once users customized their panel, we asked them to change the image on the desktop background. Users successfully navigated to the area that would allow them to accomplish this task and, for the most part, they succeeded at changing the background. One user's experience did highlight an area where the Background Caplet UI could be made more intuitive.

Desktop > Background Capplet:

The last customization task we asked users to complete was to change the size of the font on their screen. There are three different locations in which to change fonts in GNOME:

In order to change all of the fonts on the screen, a user must change the fonts in all three locations, but we did not tell users this.

Instead, we let them try and observed how they thought it could be accomplished, then, depending on time we either guided them to one of the remaining two locations or told them they had not completed the task yet. Then we got their reactions about the fact that there are three locations.

While users looked for a place to change fonts, they commented that they were looking for "properties", "settings", or something that said "font size". The majority of users went to the Control Center on their own, several getting there through the Settings > Desktop menu.

Overwhelmed by the choices in the Control Center, users needed hints to go to Sawfish > Window Manager > Appearance or Desktop > Theme Selector. One user admitted,

"I would never have guessed 'Theme Selector' for fonts." (Pilot)

Sawfish Window Manager > Appearance Capplet:

Desktop > Theme Selector Capplet:

After users changed the font in one location, we told them there was another place to change fonts in the Control Center. Depending on time, we either let them explore to find the other location or guided them to it. We had them change the font in this second location and pointed out that not all the fonts on the screen had changed. Several users commented on the redundancy between the information in Sawfish Window Manager > Appearance and Desktop > Theme Selector. We then told users that there was a third location to change fonts and heard the following reactions:

"Why is that? Why would I have to go to separate places? Why would you make it that difficult?" (P8)
"[That's] unnecessarily complicated, why not have it all in one place?" (P2)
"That is cumbersome. I wouldn't like it. It is annoying to have to go to three different places for fonts." (P7)
"I don't like that, its not straightforward. I'd want all three of those [fonts] in one place. I wouldn't expect to go to three locations to change the font." (P9)

Users expect to go one place for fonts, make one change, and have it apply to the whole desktop. The fonts example illustrates how users will become frustrated and confused when the underlying software architecture is exposed at the user level. The system architecture forces users to go to three locations to change fonts. In users' minds changing fonts happens magically with respect to how the system actually works. They just want to go one place and deal with fonts. We have to design to that model. We can't burden them with the distinction between fonts in the window manager, fonts in the current selected theme, and fonts inside Nautilus themes. We can't let the development process, of componentized, modularized pieces from different origins, permeate up to the user's level.

Control Center Impressions:

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