A Heuristic Evaluation Report of Calculator, a GNOME Application
Evaluator: Lami Williams
Evaluation Period: 10/03/2024 to 19/03/2024
Device: Desktop
Operating System: Fedora Linux 39 (Workstation Edition)
Desktop Environment: GNOME (v.45.0)
GNOME App: Calculator (v.45.0.2)
Summary
I conducted a heuristic evaluation of the GNOME calculator app, Calculator. The evaluation was done to assess the usability of the app using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics, a set of principles that describe adherences that make a design friendly and effective for use.
The heuristic evaluation explored the usability of Calculator (v.45.0.2), on a GNOME (v.45) desktop environment from my perspective as a new user with the goals to:
- Assess the overall usability of the app
- Discover and document usability issues affecting user experience
- Determine the severity of issues discovered on user experience
- Provide recommendations to address identified issues
Through this evaluation, I discovered that while the app is intuitive and easy to use, it has some usability barriers that might hinder quality user experience. These problems range from design inconsistencies to inadequate error handling and user control. Accordingly, I have proposed some recommendations to address these issues and elevate usability.
Please, find my report, an evaluation of my research, as well as some draft issue report for Calculator attached here:
- A_Heuristic_Evaluation_of_a_GNOME_App_-__Calculator_by_Lami_Williams.pdf
- Heuristic_Evaluation_Design__Rationale__and_Learnings.pdf
- Draft_Issue_Report_for_Calculator_-_Lami_Williams.pdf
GIFs linked in some of the issues in the heuristic evaluation:
Issue 4: Calculator fails to recognize numeric variable names during recall, yet allows items to be saved with numbers in the memory function
Issue 8: The calculation history list is cleared if users close and reopen the app. T