User Testing the uPortal Layout Manager

Barbara Glover barbara.glover at utoronto.ca
Thu Feb 14 16:25:17 UTC 2008 

Seems I forgot the all important link :-)
http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Portlet+Layout+Manager 
+Results

> Hi all
> I have completed 4 user tests of the Portlet Layout Manager.  The  
> results are at this link.
>
> You will see from the user testing that people are having troubles  
> realizing they can move portlets at all.
>
> Other issues we need to address in the design are:
>
> Locked Portlets:
> - how to convey to user a portlet is locked.  Cursor change is not  
> enough.
> - where should a "lock" icon be placed?  Upper left corner of  
> titlebar is not a good location.
> - Tooltip text is helpful but first must see the icon.  Could move  
> the icon to the middle of title bar or to the right corner.
> - Tool tip/hover text saying "section cannot be moved" could be if  
> they hover anywhere on title bar
> - Could remove title bar from locked portlets as Shaw-han has  
> suggested
>
> Drop target indicators:
> - green bar is too small and not being noticed enough
> - maybe make it thicker and with an arrow indicating where portlet  
> will go
>
> These are the big usability issues found.  We need to make changes  
> to improve these usability issues before the portlet layout manager  
> is released.  Let's have a discussion early next week.  I notice  
> Gary has some new design ideas too.
>
> Gary we'd love to have you participate in this meeting.  What are  
> some times that work for you?
>
> Everyone send me your times and let's get rid of these usability  
> issues! :-)
>
> Suggested time: Wednesday, Feb 20th at 10am PST / 1pm EST
>
> thanks
> Barbara


On 14-Feb-08, at 11:17 AM, Barbara Glover wrote:

> Hi all
> I have completed 4 user tests of the Portlet Layout Manager.  The  
> results are at this link.
>
> You will see from the user testing that people are having troubles  
> realizing they can move portlets at all.
>
> Other issues we need to address in the design are:
>
> Locked Portlets:
> - how to convey to user a portlet is locked.  Cursor change is not  
> enough.
> - where should a "lock" icon be placed?  Upper left corner of  
> titlebar is not a good location.
> - Tooltip text is helpful but first must see the icon.  Could move  
> the icon to the middle of title bar or to the right corner.
> - Tool tip/hover text saying "section cannot be moved" could be if  
> they hover anywhere on title bar
> - Could remove title bar from locked portlets as Shaw-han has  
> suggested
>
> Drop target indicators:
> - green bar is too small and not being noticed enough
> - maybe make it thicker and with an arrow indicating where portlet  
> will go
>
> These are the big usability issues found.  We need to make changes  
> to improve these usability issues before the portlet layout manager  
> is released.  Let's have a discussion early next week.  I notice  
> Gary has some new design ideas too.
>
> Gary we'd love to have you participate in this meeting.  What are  
> some times that work for you?
>
> Everyone send me your times and let's get rid of these usability  
> issues! :-)
>
> Suggested time: Wednesday, Feb 20th at 10am PST / 1pm EST
>
> thanks
> Barbara
>
>
> On 13-Feb-08, at 3:41 PM, Gary Thompson wrote:
>
>> All,
>>
>> I'm sorry if there has been any confusion.  The credit for the  
>> drag and drop mockups:
>> http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Portal+Layout+Manager 
>> +Mockups
>>
>> ...goes entirely to Shaw-Han, who put those together.  The basic  
>> portal "design" he used is taken from my mockups of tab reordering.
>>
>> With uPortal, no university takes the out-of-the-box look, and so  
>> when I design for uPortal, I use a "generic portal" for concepts,  
>> which is what is presented (the all-grey MyPortal).  This generic  
>> portal version of uPortal should not affect the user testing as it  
>> relates to the layout reordering.
>>
>> The new theme that I am working on for uPortal 3 is still under  
>> development.  The snapshot I forwarded to Shaw-Han was to let him  
>> see the markup so he could plan for the reorderer integration.  I  
>> have attached a mockup the design I am aiming for in the uPortal 3  
>> theme to this email (note that this mockup includes several  
>> forward-looking feature ideas that will not be in the release).
>>
>> The great information being discovered from the layout manager  
>> user testing should still be valid as the interaction will still  
>> be the same.
>>
>> I'd be glad to discuss it further if anyone is still confused  
>> (which might be me :)
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>> Barbara Glover wrote:
>>> We have one more user test scheduled for tomorrow at 10am EST.
>>>
>>> As far as I was aware the mockup uses the skin as Shaw-Han  
>>> mentioned.
>>>
>>> We are learning some useful information from the user tests even  
>>> if the mockup is not identical to the original design by Gary.
>>>
>>> We have found out that:
>>> - we need something more than just a cursor change to denote  
>>> locked portlets
>>> - placement of a locked icon is important.  The upper left side  
>>> of the locked portlet title bar does not seem to be a noticeable  
>>> place.
>>> - the green bar indicator has worked for most people but one  
>>> person did not notice it too much and we may want to make it bigger
>>> - we have uncovered a few bugs as well
>>>
>>> In my experience I've done iterative user testing as designs  
>>> evolve until we arrive at the final design.  Shaw-Han has a good  
>>> idea we can try for the user test tomorrow just to get some  
>>> feedback on and that is to remove the header from the locked  
>>> portlet so it appears different from the others.
>>>
>>> I agree that doing further user testing after tomorrow might not  
>>> help but I'd like to see how Shaw-Han's idea works with the user  
>>> we already have scheduled.
>>>
>>> We have no further people scheduled or interested, so this is  
>>> probably all the user testing we'll be able to do on this component.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> Barbara
>>>
>>> On 13-Feb-08, at 1:25 PM, Shaw-Han Liem wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi guys,
>>>>
>>>> As far as i know this is the latest uPortal skin from Gary (the  
>>>> mockups you saw earlier I think were an 'imaginary' uPortal  
>>>> instance, but this is the actual skin that will go into uPortal).
>>>>
>>>> I'm cc'ing Gary on this as well so we can get a definitive  
>>>> answer ;)
>>>>
>>>> thanks
>>>>
>>>> Shaw-Han
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Allison Bloodworth wrote:
>>>>> Hi guys, Daphne and I would like to understand why the  
>>>>> prototype is different from Gary's design mock-up (e.g. color,  
>>>>> "Maximize" links vs. icons). If it doesn't represent the final  
>>>>> design, we'd recommend holding off on scheduling any more user  
>>>>> tests (since it's so hard to find time and users to do them  
>>>>> with in the first place.) Would it be possible to set up a time  
>>>>> to meet and talk about this tomorrow (I think Daphne is swamped  
>>>>> today)?
>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>> Allison Begin forwarded message:
>>>>>> *From: *Daphne Ogle <daphne at media.berkeley.edu  
>>>>>> <mailto:daphne at media.berkeley.edu>>
>>>>>> *Date: *February 13, 2008 9:52:52 AM PST
>>>>>> *To: *Colin Clark <colin.clark at utoronto.ca  
>>>>>> <mailto:colin.clark at utoronto.ca>>
>>>>>> *Cc: *Shaw-Han Liem <shawhan.liem at utoronto.ca  
>>>>>> <mailto:shawhan.liem at utoronto.ca>>, "fluid- 
>>>>>> work at fluidproject.org <mailto:fluid-work at fluidproject.org>"  
>>>>>> <fluid-work at fluidproject.org <mailto:fluid- 
>>>>>> work at fluidproject.org>>, Allison Bloodworth  
>>>>>> <abloodworth at berkeley.edu <mailto:abloodworth at berkeley.edu>>
>>>>>> *Subject: **Re: User Testing the uPortal Layout Manager*
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A couple comments...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Can the drop location indicator be larger?  It's difficult to  
>>>>>> see, especially as you are dragging a portlet over the drop  
>>>>>> location.  It indicator line is only about 1/4 of the length  
>>>>>> of the drop area now, could the line go all the way across the  
>>>>>> horizontal space?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As portlets are dragged, they seem to grow in size making it  
>>>>>> again difficult to tell where the drop options are and where  
>>>>>> it will be dropped.  Is this a know bug?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm on Firefox.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Daphne
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Feb 13, 2008, at 8:28 AM, Colin Clark wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Shaw-Han,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 13-Feb-08, at 10:48 AM, Shaw-Han Liem wrote:
>>>>>>>> The current design we are testing (based on Gary Thompson's  
>>>>>>>> great new
>>>>>>>> uPortal skin) can be found here:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://tinyurl.com/2r89b2
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> (caution: the mockups have only been tested in firefox)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just gave the mockup a quick test in IE 6 and it is working  
>>>>>>> fine. I get two errors when the page first loads--these  
>>>>>>> errors are also thrown in FireFox--about two undefined global  
>>>>>>> variables that the uPortal Dojo code is relying on. While  
>>>>>>> globals in a portal are a little scary, this is just a by- 
>>>>>>> product of running the mockup outside the context of uPortal  
>>>>>>> and isn't a problem.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Colin
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> Colin Clark
>>>>>>> Technical Lead, Fluid Project
>>>>>>> Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto
>>>>>>> http://fluidproject.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Daphne Ogle
>>>>>> Senior Interaction Designer
>>>>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>>>>> Educational Technology Services
>>>>>> daphne at media.berkeley.edu <mailto:daphne at media.berkeley.edu>
>>>>>> cell (510)847-0308
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Allison Bloodworth
>>>>> Senior User Interaction Designer
>>>>> Educational Technology Services
>>>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>>>> (415) 377-8243
>>>>> abloodworth at berkeley.edu <mailto:abloodworth at berkeley.edu>
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Shaw-Han Liem
>>>> Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
>>>> University of Toronto
>>>> shawhan.liem at utoronto.ca / 416-946-0423
>>>


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