[Sigia-l] Open Source Usability -- curable?

Listera listera at rcn.com
Thu Jul 22 02:22:28 EDT 2004


Peter Trudelle:
> Cool!  How do we do *that*?  To continue on your example, Firefox is not
> something entirely new, it is the latest evolution of a product line
> that goes back more than 10 years, reflecting hundreds of millions of
> dollars and uncounted lifetimes of development, including some very
> talented designers and usability pros

That's why I put an asterisk next to Firefox. It has had access to more
resources than most OOS apps. But, by the same token, unlike Firefox, its
various Netscape-drived cousins have demonstrated quite lousy UCD
tendencies, which makes Firefox all the more interesting.
 
> Interesting idea, but I hope you mean  testing with target users rather
> than having so-called experts rate them.

Yes, I mean testing, guiding, active assistance, etc. Frankly, there's a
huge amount of UCD improvements that can be suggested by any experienced
designer even without user testing.

> I think we're a long way from the notion of UCD "compliance", as if it were
> codified and standard. BTW, IBM and Novell still don't have enough of a focus
> on UCD in some of  their own software, IMO.

The reason I used "compliance" is because programmers are used to it. The
notion of submitting your app to a standards/compatibility body, testing
lab, etc is well established.

If you follow my rants here, I'm not a fan of "UCD is an engineering
science" approach. Neither is there a dearth of my rants on IBM and UCD. All
I'd want from an organization that champions the slogan "user engineering"
is their money.:-)

The empirical evidence suggests that (despite formulaic wishful thinking and
posturing) the professional design community and OSS programmer community
haven't exactly cooperated in any meaningful manner. I don't quite see the
design community voluntarily becoming adjunct to a process they have little
control/influence over without pay.

I thought of the UCD "compliance" entity as elevating the role of the
designer in the OSS process (because of its imprimatur) and removing a bit
of the monetary disincentives.

Having said all that, my personal belief is that until/unless the notion of
programmer-driven app creation process is reversed, not much will change.


Ziya
Nullius in Verba 






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