So it will take us some time to actually get valid (in term of significant) results, as this sheer amount of data first has to be handled. But I will uncover not too much when I say: a first look at the data is promising.

I guess we have found a valid way to actually have users judge the usability of icons of an application. The icon test is easy to set up, it is easy (ok, it will be easy once the platform is finished up…) to get the results and it is fast - in the best meaning of agile usability. You need valid feedback on your icons till tomorrow? No problem anymore!

With our icon test we are able to spot the good and the better-find-another icons in an interface, and we can easily decide which of a set of alternative icons for one term is the one users prefer most.

More soon to be seen on www.icon-test.com!

1. Which Icons the TV-Browser uses are easy to understand, helpful or in just one word: appropriate? Which Icons should TV-Browser use in future releases?
2. Does the method and the online-Tool we have developed for testing the quality of icons work as good, as we hope it does?

If you are curious: The study is online until the 1st of September 2008. You can participate even if you do not know much about the TV-Browser - as long as you use Firefox Webbrowser, because this study is still beta: Study for checking the quality of icons in TV-Browser.

After starting the study first problems became obvious immediately and most of them got solved quite quickly. I have learned, e.g. that a switch can be “half-broken” eating up lots of, but not all data-packages.

Summing it up: the study runs quite well and we are getting tons of answers by the TV-Browser-Users. It is always fun to have this great community involved into new studies.

1. John picks the sub-app, e.g. Contacts he wants and needs.
2. He then gets a list of available item, which he needs to narrow down.
3. He identifies the item he was looking for and is doing some action with it.

This workflow is true for almost all kinds of sub applications. Filters come in play in step 2. Here John needs some easy way to narrow down the list of items. We want to achieve this by the use of a strong and still easy to use set of filters. Take a look at a working draft of how these filters could look like:

The operator in the middle will be only active, when it is needed, e.g. for narrowing down dates or postal codes, so it does not come into John’s way when he uses <TAB> for navigating.

In the default view John will see only one filter line showing a quickfilter. This would be

[Contact|V] contains [____________________]

for address book. This way he always has a one-click search-like filter setting available for doing the 95% of the searches he needs to do. Still, the other 5%, where John needs to do a complex filtering are available just as easy!

One the fascinating ideas of this concept is the possibility to save these complex, but powerful and often needed filter sets. So John can do frequent searches with one click faster then ever before! And there is no limit to individualisation. Susan, Paul and James can define and access their most needed tasks this way. Tine 2.0 will be just right and powerful for all of them - and for you!

We demonstrated what we call a technology preview. This preview reveals some of the basic functionality and some of our interaction-concepts. The visitors were impressed by the ease of interaction made possible by newest Web 2.0 technology. But make up your own mind and try out what we have achieved so far.

Additionally we made a web-based icon-understandability test on the booth. So visitors could help us to understand what icons are already well understood - and which icons still need to be improved. This way visitors had the possibility to directly influence the usability of Tine 2.0. We will provide this facility for all of you, who could not attend LinuxTag on the Tine-Website soon. Tools like this are extremely important for achieving the certification as being developed according to ISO 13407.

Next to Tine I promoted the idea of the OpenSource Usability Labs. There were quite a few commercial OpenSource Projects around on LinuxTag. I talked to a lot of people about our ideas of professional OpenSource Usability, our philosophy and our business models - and most of them found the ideas very interesting.

I really enjoyed LinuxTag and already look forward to next year’s edition! Thanks to all the guys making this possible. We should not forget that this event is mainly the result of , oluntary work.

Unfortunately the OpenSource Usability Labs will - this year - not have there own booth on LinuxTag. But you will find me most of the time at the Tine 2.0 booth. It is located in hall 7.2a booth no. 115.

I am very happy to get feedback on the ideas we can present up to now with Tine 2.0. Feel free to discuss the concepts in User-Interface- and User-Interaction-Design with me. As well I am looking forward to discuss any issues related to usability in OpenSource in general - be it in the scope of the OpenUsability-Initiative or a matter of the OpenSource Usability Labs.

See you on LinuxTag!

Hello,

my name is Paul Wulf, I´m a project manager at Tine Publications Ltd. I don´t have much time to introduce myself but the people working on our new collaboration application already interviewed me about my job and what we really need here for our everyday work. I can´t really wait until the first release is finished to start enjoying the smart and promising looking interface of Tine 2.0.

Yours faithfully,
Paul Wulf

Paul Wulf and his sales manager colleague James McBlack are the last two secondary personas we use to discuss in the Tine-Wiki and concentrate on in the user centered development of Tine 2.0.

This year again I will mentor - together with Bodo from TV-Browser - one of the Season of Usability projects. This is great because we get the chance to spread the word about usability, help some students to gather experience and at the same time improve a great project even further!

But today was decision-day. We had to select which of the applicants we want to consider for the 2nd round of applications. And I really hate to have to say no to qualified and motivated people - but: these are the rules! So at the end of the day we have nine promising students left in the process of application for the TV-Browser. Good luck to all of them in 2nd round and to all the others: Don’t be sad… There will be other great chances for you!

It is a little bit like it was back then when mum cleaned up the room and afterwards you could not find anything anymore.

We at Apliki want to change this and Metaways wants to change this too. This is why we created the OpenSource Usability Labs and why we do Usability.

They ensure the development of Tine 2.0 follows the way ISO 13407 describes the “Human-centred design processes for interactive systems”. At Tine 2.0 you and I - we - the users are integrated right into all production meetings. I believe this is a world premiere for commercially driven OpenSource production.

This is why Tine 2.0 will be the kick-ass groupware solution of the future. And take a look at the demo - isn’t it promising?

Hi, my name is Susan Clever,

I am a secretary working at Tine Publications Ltd. in Brighton. My work is related to teams like the one in which John Smith is doing his job. I coordinate team meetings, write mails, answer calls and take notes for others and connect customers to the right people at Tine Publications. Therefore I strongly depend on the continous and careful use of our groupware solution.

I hope with Tine 2.0 we will get an efficient and satysfying product to fullfill our needs. If you have any questions concerning my tasks and need some feedback, feel free to ask.

All the best,
Susan

More information about Susan and her job can be found in the Tine 2.0-Wiki. There are two more secondary personas we will present soon.

Photo © Konstantin Gastmann / Pixelio

Hi there,

my name is John Smith and I’m one of the photographers at Tine Puclications, Ltd. I just got an email telling me that we’ll be using Tine 2.0 in our company. I can’t say I’m overly glad with this decision, because I just started to work efficiently with Outlook Express — but well, Tine 2.0 looks promising and I will take this as a challenge.

I hope all of your programmers will bear in mind what I need to do with this application. I’m sure, that by telling you a bit about me, you can greatly improve this software. I hope I won’t need to worry about coordinating my appointments that much and have more time to take wonderful pictures.

All the best,

John

Read more about John and let us know what you think of our approach!

Photo © Sascha Sambale / Pixelio