obso1337.org

It is one of those days where I’m going to have to turn off IRC, AIM/MSN/Jabber/etc, email, and RSS to get anything done. I need the web to work on my project or else I’d flip the switch on my laptop (which I sometimes have to do when I work on my thesis). If it weren’t for the fact I work from home, I would be tempted to unplug my phone too.

Right now I am finishing up a report for the first stage of my WordPress/Google SoC project so I can do a few housekeeping things for work. I would really like to get some work on my thesis done tonight, but I think that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Digikam, I didn’t forget about you. I have the reports from the usability testing on my desk, I just need to create a top line report and give it to you guys. Unfortunately KDE is at the bottom of my ToDo list these days :(

Come the end of July I will be a sane person again. It is both a short and long time away with all the work I have to get done by then.

seele :: Jun.26.2007 :: Asides, Life :: Comments Off

I got my first spam SMS on my mobile phone just now. For Windows Vista and Office 2007 no less. Are we not safe from spam anywhere?

seele :: Jun.20.2007 :: Asides, Technology :: Comments Off

I got a new laptop (Fujitsu P7230) last week and have been struggling to get it set up to dual boot Kubuntu. The recover CDs provided restore an image, not an installation program, so I had to use the Vista disk management tool to free up some space for Linux. This hasn’t been a very fun process. The laptop is portable and lightweight so sacrifices some power, but it is more powerful and has more memory than my desktop. On my desktop it takes about 40 minutes to install the entire Adobe CS suite. It took me three hours to install Adobe CS this morning and it wasn’t even the complete suite. Visio took over an hour to install last night. It has been sitting on installing 1 of 3 updates for the past 30 minutes.

Is it just my bad luck or have other people been having problems doing stuff on Vista? General performance of using the damn thing (browsing and simple applications) seems fine, and Linux runs perfectly. The only reason I have Vista installed instead of XP is that I paid for it (i.e. Microsoft Tax).

Sure, the graphics are pretty, but I’m not impressed.

seele :: Jun.18.2007 :: General, Technology :: 4 Comments »

In late April I managed a 3 teams of graduate students who conducted usability testing studies on the Kubuntu installation process. 9 participants of various backgrounds (including a computer science student and system administrator) were asked to install Kubuntu along side Windows. For the most part, the installation process only had minor issues which could easily be addressed, however, the partitioning process was a failure for all 9 participants. Partitioning was an unknown concept to all but two of the participants, but even those two participants (who had advanced computer knowledge) did not understand enough to complete the process. Issues with technical labels such as root and swap were difficult for all of the participants. This poses an interesting problem of trying to support less technical and more technical users when there is a large conceptual gap between the two groups of users.

Comments and questions are welcome. Many of the recommendations in the report are superficial — appropriate for the minor issues — and more planning and discussion will be necessary for the major issues.

Usability Testing of the Kubuntu Installation Process (PDF 1.4MB)

seele :: Jun.12.2007 :: General, KDE/Kubuntu, Usability :: 4 Comments »

As part of the Google Summer of Code, I am working with the WordPress project. The end goal is to prototype a new (or improve an existing) plugin or feature which will give WordPress a unique edge in the online blogging/publishing market. I am doing this through a comparative analysis of other products which are competing for the same users as WordPress and finding gaps or interest points to focus on. The three dimensions I am focusing on in the comparison are suitability, functionality, and usability.

The past week I have been working on details of a research plan which will shape the next two weeks’ analysis which include who I am going to compare and what I am going to compare. Direct market competitors include WordPress, MoveableType, and ExpressionEngine. There are also several secondary competitors which include Blogger, LiveJournal, and Vox. As I mentioned before, suitability, functionality, and usability are the three dimensions I am focusing my comparison on. I am compiling a list of heuristics and guidelines for each of those dimensions which each product will be graded and compared on.

This week:

I will continue fleshing out primary audiences and user groups and the set of tasks which will be the center of this analysis. These details will shape a lot of the dimensions in the comparison plan. I hope to get most of this done before next weekend so I can begin the product comparisons and provide that data in the next update.

seele :: Jun.11.2007 :: Design, General, Open Source :: 2 Comments »