The KDE Usability Project - Usability Testing in an OSS Environment
With Open Source Software gaining in popularity the overall demographic of its
user base is shifting and hence the demands on the software is also changing.
To ensure that the software continues to serve all of its users, including
those that have recently become users, as effectively as possible requires
some serious thought and actions towards enhanced usability.
This talk will concentrate on the challenges that arise while working to
improve usability in KDE, how those challenges are being addressed, and to
detail various initiatives that have or will be put in place to reach the
goal of enhanced usability.
The following topics will be covered:
- How usability testing can be coordinated and effectively carried out in an
OSS project in light of the traditionally decentralized nature of such
projects, wherein participants are located around the world and working on
different schedules and from different agendas.
- The initiatives that we have implemented or plan to implement to improve
usability within KDE and its applications including:
- Developer Checklists
- Usability Certification for individual applications
- Usability Studies and Usability Report Tracking & Management.
- The various Quality Assurance efforts that are currently underway to
introduce certain aspects of QA into KDE development that by and large
haven't existed previously, and how these same efforts could be applied to
other OSS projects.
- Examples of key usability improvements to date in KDE, such as the current
work being done on the Control Center.