[Outreachy Task Submittion] One Time GNOME User Test
#17
TaskSystem Specification
GNOME Version: 45.2
OS System/ Version: Ubuntu 23.10
Participant Information
Participant Name: Meinert Njingti
Gender: Male
Profession: Electrical Engineering Teacher
Meinert Njingti is a secondary school Electrical Engineering Teacher in Cameroon with intermediate computing experience. He uses Windows for daily activities like preparing school notes, assignments, and research. Before this research, Meinert had a basic understanding of a Linux-based system but never used one before. He was unfamiliar with Gnome and never heard of it, making him an ideal candidate for the First Time User Research Study.
Research Overview and Methodology
The goal of this research involved conducting a usability study to evaluate the participant’s (Meinert’s) experience with the GNOME desktop environment as a first-time user, focusing on understanding his challenges, preferences, and areas for improvement.
This study involved the participant completing a series of basic computing tasks on the GNOME desktop environment. These tasks covered navigation, file management, customization, and application management. Here's a summary of the tasks more details are found in the attached interview script Interview_Script.docx
- Navigation: Opening, maximizing, and closing the Firefox Browser Application, finding the Calendar App, and pinning it to the dashboard, opening the LibreOffice Application, minimizing it, and returning to the desktop.
- File Management: Creating a folder on the desktop and renaming it, restoring an application, typing and saving text in a text editor, and closing the application.
- File Management (Part 2): Deleting a folder, restoring it from the Trash/Recycle Bin, moving a folder from one location to another, and bookmarking a folder.
- Customization: Changing the desktop theme to light, changing the desktop background image, and adjusting system brightness to its maximum
- Application Management: Uninstalling a specific application.
To ensure a comprehensive analysis, the participant was asked to perform the same series of tasks on both the GNOME desktop interface and his preferred operating system, Windows. Asking the participant to perform the same tasks on his preferred operating system was crucial because it provided insights into his computing proficiency level. This analysis allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of the participant's overall computing skills and proficiency.
The tasks were recorded as the participant was carrying them out, enabling detailed observations of the participant's interactions and navigation patterns within each interface (GNOME and Windows). Overall, the methodology employed in this research provided valuable insights into the participant's experience.
Task Analysis
The participant faced some challenges while performing certain tasks within the Gnome desktop environment. These difficulties influenced his overall experience and perception of some aspects of GNOME's usability.
Task Difficulty Rating
Task difficulty levels are categorized based on the number of attempts required by the participant to successfully complete each task. Tasks that were completed successfully on the first attempt are classified as easy
. These tasks were straightforward and intuitive for the participant to navigate.
Tasks that require two attempts for successful completion are categorized as moderate
difficulty. While the participant encountered some challenges initially, he was able to overcome them with minimal effort.
Finally, tasks that require three or more attempts for successful completion are classified as difficult
. These tasks presented significant obstacles or complexities for the participant, requiring repeated efforts to achieve the desired outcome. By assessing task difficulty levels in this manner, we're able to gain insights into the varying degrees of usability challenges experienced by the participant during the GNOME usability study.
Tasks | Difficulty Level | |
---|---|---|
Navigation | 1. Open the Firefox Browser Application | Easy |
2. Maximize the Firefox Browser Application | Easy | |
3. Close the Firefox Browser Application | Easy | |
4. Find the Callender App and pin it to the Dashboard | Easy | |
5. Open the LibreOffice Application | Easy | |
6. Minimize the LibreOffice Application | Easy | |
7. Return to the Desktop | Easy | |
File Management | 1. Create a folder on the desktop and name it “My Folder” | Easy |
2. Rename the folder to “Gnome Folder” | Easy | |
3. Restore the LibreOffice App | Easy | |
4. Type the text “Using Gnome” in the text editor | Easy | |
5. Save the file as “gnome_text” in the “Gnome Folder” you created earlier | Easy | |
6. Close the LibreOffice App | Easy | |
File Management (Part 2) | 1. Delete the Gnome Folder | Easy |
2. Open the Trash App and Restore the “Gnome Folder” | Easy | |
3. Move the “Outreachy Folder” from “Documents” into the “Gnome Folder” | Moderate | |
4. Bookmark the Outreachy Folder | Difficult | |
Customization | 1. Change the Desktop theme to light | Easy |
2. Change the Desktop Background image | Easy | |
3. Adjust the system brightness to its maximum | Difficult | |
Application Management | 1. Uninstall “FLTK Sudoku App” | Easy |
Challenging Tasks
-
Bookmarking a folder: The participant struggled to complete the Bookmarking future task. After several attempts, he found it challenging to the targeted folder.
The participant attempted to bookmark the targeted folder by
-
Adjusting computer brightness: The participant also faced a challenge finding brightness settings within the general display settings.
The participant attempted to change the brightness settings by
Liked Aspect
The participant appreciated the icon design and the general look and feel of the Gnome interface, he likened it to the aesthetic experience of using an Apple Mac. This positive feedback highlights Gnome's visually appealing user experiences.
Disliked Aspect
The participant expressed some dissatisfaction with the mouse pointer's performance, he perceived a tiny lag and delay in its movement.
Recommendations
- Improve Bookmarking functionality: The bookmarking feature can be enhanced by incorporating the ability for users to add folders to bookmarks directly from the pop-up menu when right-clicking on the folder.
- Visibility of display settings: Enhance the accessibility of display settings by integrating functionality to adjust brightness levels directly within the general display settings Window.
Key Observation
The participant spent a total of 8 minutes completing all tasks on Windows, compared to 13 minutes with the GNOME desktop environment. Despite being a first-time user of GNOME, the participant's task completion time was relatively reasonable, indicating a moderate learning curve using the GNOME interface which is good.
It's noteworthy that I conducted an additional brief task survey, specifically focusing on the Bookmarking task with a more advanced computer user. The participant for this particular task was Njimukara Brian, a professional software developer who, like Meinert, had never used GNOME before. Brian encountered the same challenge when asked to perform the bookmarking task as Meinert. Below is the recorded screen as Brian performed the task. I believe the suggested recommendation above could significantly enhance the bookmarking feature.
Area for possible future first-time user test
In this research, I carried out the The first time GNOME user test
with a participant who is accustomed to using the Windows interface. In the future conducting usability studies with a participant accustomed to the macOS interface could provide valuable insights into how GNOME compares with other popular interfaces. By interviewing MacBook users who are first-time GNOME users, we can gain a deeper understanding of the ease of using GNOME in terms of transitioning from macOS to GNOME and identify any areas where GNOME excels or falls short compared to macOS.
Attachments
Tasks being carried out on GNOME
Task | Total Time Taken(Minutes) | Start and Endtime on Video |
---|---|---|
Navigation | 1:06 | 00:00:03 - 00:1:09 |
File Management | 2:07 | 00:01:12 - 00:03:20 |
File Management (Part 2) | 3:12 | 00:03:24 - 00:06:36 |
Customization | 4:24 | 00:06:39 - 00:11:03 |
Application Management | 1:28 | 00:11:06 - 00:12:35 |
TOTAL | 12:17 |
Tasks being carried out on Windows
Task | Total Time Taken (Minutes) | Start and Endtime on Video |
---|---|---|
Navigation | 1:20 | 00:00:03 - 00:01:23 |
File Management | 2:24 | 00:01:26 - 00:03:50 |
File Management (Part 2) | 1:18 | 00:03:53 - 00:05:11 |
Customization | 1:04 | 00:05:14 - 00:06:18 |
Application Management | 1:15 | 00:06:21 - 00:07:37 |
TOTAL | 7:21 |