obso1337.org

More examples for why we shouldn´t be looking towards Windows for examples of ¨good usability¨. It seems like on his way out of Microsoft, Bill Gates had a few things to say on Windows usability.

This is a pretty frequent scenario on how usability gets done in a company. Someone high up can´t find something, gets frustrated, and approves a huge pile of usability funding to fix his problem. Several of my recent clients have come to me because of a similar ¨event¨. I can´t really complain since they pay my bills, but it makes me feel good when there are open source projects out there actively trying to improve usability before users complain.

seele :: Jun.25.2008 :: General, Humor, Open Source, Usability :: 14 Comments »

I will be giving a talk about Usability and Kubuntu during the Kubuntu Tutorials Day on Sunday June 15, 2008 at 20:00UTC (16:00EST). I have to admit all the credit for the catchy talk title (Usability — is it just about removing options) goes to Jonathan.

seele :: Jun.13.2008 :: Asides, KDE/Kubuntu, Usability :: Comments Off

I hadn’t heard or seen anything from the Kopete devs yet, but I did ping Matt earlier this week to help spread the word to the rest of the project. Remember, this is an activity for you the developers, not me. I make myself available to answer questions and facilitate discussion, but the purpose of the user research profiles is to get developers more aware about their users. I will be at UDS next week and will be checking up on the Kopete User Research Profile once I get back.

seele :: May.15.2008 :: Asides, KDE/Kubuntu, Usability :: Comments Off

Last night I went to watch a usability test session of Drupal (with eyetracking!). It is a group project my summer intern is involved with for her Research Methods class. She invited me to observe since she knew I am involved in open source. It’s nice to see design students becoming more aware and more interested in open source software. We even received a few SoU applications from students at my alma mater.

… now to finish writing about use cases and scenarios.

seele :: Apr.23.2008 :: Asides, Usability :: Comments Off

I’ve been spending some time the past few days reviewing applications for the KDE4 HIG and KOffice Toolbox/Palette projects Ellen and I are co-mentoring for the 2008 Season of Usability. There are so many more applicants this year and many of them are very good. It will be hard choosing only 3 (2 for the KDE4, and 1 for KOffice). Good luck to all the students!

seele :: Apr.17.2008 :: General, Open Source, Usability :: 2 Comments »