My Contribution: Heuristic evaluation of Gnome Software (fedora 39, Virtual box)
This contribution has been updated, please find the latest version in this attachment
Heuristic Evaluation of GNOME Software App (2).pdf
Is software as it is built today dangerous? maybe. If we bought a hardware machine from the department store, we could break it down to its smallest parts and rebuild it again, provided we had the knowledge. There ought to be a similar assurance for software.
Actually, there are many open source softwares, but most open source softwares are not particular about inclusiveness and accessibility, and thats what sets Gnome apart for me as a user experience designer and why I will love to contribute to Gnome.
In this contribution, we will be using the Nielson Norman usability evaluation toolset to identify issues in Gnome software, a store for downloading apps, and other resources. After writing this the first time with all the usability heuristics and evaluations, it was too long of a read, so I have decided to limit this writeup to only identified issues and design proposals.
However, before we continue, we would need to remind ourselves of our guiding principles, by which I mean the principles of the Gnome Design community that were considered in this contribution, some of which are
• Gnome optimises for smart defaults and only necessary preferences, so everyone, even the new user who has no idea, gets the best experience.
• Gnome prides itself on being distraction-free and productivity centric. Gnome does not believe in blindly copying existing experiences, but new proposals that do not exist in other operating systems are also questioned.
• Gnome is particular about quality over quantity, and hacks are frowned upon.
Issue 1: Active search status defies visibility of system status heuristic
When we click on search, the previously selected tab remains active, which defies the visibility of system status heuristics. Although the change in the user journey is obvious with the appearance of a search bar, the current position in the user's journey is not really clear as the previously selected tab is still active, as shown in the screenshot below.
I am uncertain about this being a hindrance to users, as it appears to be a tradeoff because the content of the page itself is not changed until a search query is made. Nonetheless, it does paint the picture that the search is made in the installed folder, as shown in the screenshot, and this is not the case as it is a global search.
issue 1 design improvement proposal
Issue 2: Search prompt defies the match between the system and real world heuristic(users mental model)
I could argue this starts with the name of the software, as I was somewhat surprised to find fonts in Gnome software. However, in the screenshot above, the prompt says'search apps' but also displays results for font packages, as shown in the screenshot below.
This could be exaggerated, as return users may easily figure this out, but new users may go through the stress of scrolling through the fonts page to find fonts they want, as I did the first time. I would argue that using'search apps, fonts, codecs, etc.' will do a better job of informing users that the search functions as a global search.
issue 2 design improvement proposal
Issue 3: Inability to update a single item at a time defies the user control and freedom heuristic
This was rather odd to me because I don't want to bother updating apps that are no longer part of my workflow. Surprisingly, this particular issue stood out from the rest; it did not feel like an intentional trade-off. There is also the “requires restart” title when a title like “pending updates” will be better at communicating the page utility to users.
In my attempt to improve the experience, I added the ability to update individual items and updated the title text and call-to-action text. I will like to know if there are technical limitations that prevent individual updates, but I strongly believe the title pending updates will better inform the user of the page utility, and the requires restart can be introduced contextually later in the flow.
On a final note, this task has been a beautiful rabbit hole that led me to discover the values of Gnome and piqued my new found interest in open source and freedom tech. Something about the freedom to run, copy, study, modify, and redistribute the software with or without modifications made me feel much safer and more informed. However, it has not been easy to make an immediate commitment to replace Google Docs with Hackmd, Meet with Jitsi, Figma with Penpot, and Chrome with Firefox. Nonetheless, I now look forward to learning and being part of this great community of builders making software that gives users the right to own, know, and contribute to what they use.