Revision as of 16:45, 7 March 2007

Introduction

The user should be able to do what they need to do effectively, efficiently and satisfactorily. Usability testing plays a key role in this objective. Thinking about usability and adopting a user-centred approach should happen at every stage of the development process.

For example,

• user-centred design can determine what features a user needs - not just what a developer thinks they might need;

• user testing can be performed on prototypes before any code has been written, eliminating mistakes before they are implemented;

• usability testing can be carried on the implemented system to identify issues, and produce requirements.

Usability Testing & OpenOffice

To what extent is usability embedded into OO development? See Nielsen's usability maturity model - I suspect OOo is at stage 2.

• (add comments)

What can be done?

• Develop relationships with OO development community in order to integrate usability testing into the development process;
• 'Educate' OO developers about usability;
• Leverage OO user community by recruiting users for usability testing;
• Feed results back into development process.

What are the challenges, and how can they be overcome?

• OOo is vast and confusing, introducing a usability culture is difficult.
  • Start with small scale pilot projects?
    • What are some candidate projects?