Fluid UX Walkthrough: documentation restructuring and review.

Allison Bloodworth abloodworth at berkeley.edu
Fri Feb 6 22:42:23 UTC 2009


Hi Paul,

I think you can perform a modified version of a cognitive walk-through  
without "official" personas...perhaps using something more like  
provisional personas and scenarios. The key point I think we'd like to  
preserve is that you are trying to walk through the interface from the  
perspective of a user as they complete tasks that they'd often be  
performing. So maybe the answer is provide three methods: 1) heuristic  
eval, 2) cognitive walkthrough, and 3) combined heuristic eval &  
cognitive walkthrough--what we were originally calling the "Fluid UX  
Walkthrough."

Thanks much for your help in making sure we present these things in a  
way all potential users will be able to use! Feel free to ping me if  
you need any help or advice.

Cheers,
Allison

On Feb 6, 2009, at 2:21 PM, Paul Zablosky wrote:

> I've been struggling with this since I started working on the  
> pages.  In reviewing the text I found that we wrote a lot about the  
> Fluid approach of combining the two techniques and I didn't want to  
> lose it.  Having read Daphne's, Allison's and Jonathan's messages, I  
> think we must preserve the idea, but find a way to present the  
> techniques separately for beginners, or those who are not ready to  
> step up to persona creation.   At the same time we could talk about  
> how the Fluid project employed and recommended this way of doing  
> things.
>
> Paul
>
> Allison Bloodworth wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I had the same thoughts I read Paul's email. I feel like one of the  
>> things we were doing that was a bit unique in Fluid was  
>> recommending that we combine the two: the heuristic evaluation was  
>> performed by reviewing the interface using a cognitive walk-though.  
>> I feel like that's often what happens in practice (at least good  
>> practice) in a heuristic evaluation. I am a big fan of performing  
>> the techniques together myself. Would it help to explain the two  
>> separately first, then talk about how we combine them?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Allison
>>
>> On Feb 5, 2009, at 3:23 PM, Daphne Ogle wrote:
>>
>>> I think this sounds right.  The one aspect I'm not sure about is  
>>> seperating out the Heuristics from the cognitive walkthroughs.  I  
>>> hadn't looked at these in quite some time and it looks like the  
>>> change has already been made so I'm not sure what it looked like  
>>> before.  As I recall, we did some good work to combine these 2  
>>> activities in a way we thought would allow users to get a lot out  
>>> of them efficiently.
>>>
>>> -Daphne
>>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 4, 2009, at 2:08 PM, Paul Zablosky wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>> Before starting on our renovation of the UX Walkthrough pages in  
>>>> the wiki, Jonathan and I reviewed the existing content.  At the  
>>>> time it was written, there was a lot of emphasis on how  
>>>> walkthroughs were being done in the Fluid project, and the  
>>>> associated benefits to Fluid deliverables.  There is also  
>>>> material on how heuristic evaluations and cognitive walkthroughs  
>>>> can be combined and performed in the same pass.
>>>> To make the material more approachable to people outside the  
>>>> Fluid project, we have decided to partition the content so that  
>>>> each technique is discussed separately, and not recommend the  
>>>> combined approach.  We also intend to remove some of the text  
>>>> that focuses on Fluid goals, intentions, and activities, since  
>>>> these aren't properly part of a toolkit or handbook.  Reference  
>>>> to Fluid examples which add to understanding  will of course  
>>>> remain.
>>>>
>>>> I think what I'm suggesting is consistent with what is intended  
>>>> for the whole Design Handbook.  I'm bringing it up because it is  
>>>> somewhat of a change from what is now there, and we'd like to  
>>>> know if anyone has concerns about our approach.  Please let us  
>>>> know (Jonathan and me) if you have any reservations, concerns, or  
>>>> suggestions.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>> Jonathan Hung wrote:
>>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>> Work is commencing on the UX Walkthrough documents on the wiki
>>>>> (http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/User+Experience+Walkthroughs 
>>>>> ).
>>>>> Specifically Paul Zablosky and I will be re-examining these  
>>>>> documents
>>>>> and reorganizing them to be more approachable by individuals/ 
>>>>> groups
>>>>> who are task-oriented.
>>>>>
>>>>> For the most part, all the content will remain the same, but
>>>>> restructured into appropriate child pages for easier navigation,  
>>>>> and
>>>>> new text to help guide users who are looking to execute their  
>>>>> own UX
>>>>> evaluation.
>>>>>
>>>>> This task is filed under FLUID-2196.
>>>>>
>>>>> It will probably take a few iterations before we settle on  
>>>>> something
>>>>> satisfactory, so in the meantime, make sure to wear hardhats and
>>>>> regulation-approved footwear when treading through those  
>>>>> pages. ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have time to help with this, feel free to contact either  
>>>>> Paul
>>>>> or I for details.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Jonathan.
>>>>>
>>>>> ---
>>>>> Jonathan Hung / jhung.utoronto at gmail.com
>>>>> Fluid Project - ATRC at University of Toronto
>>>>> Tel: (416) 946-3002
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________________
>>>> fluid-work mailing list - fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives,
>>>> see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>>
>>> Daphne Ogle
>>> Senior Interaction Designer
>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>> Educational Technology Services
>>> daphne at media.berkeley.edu
>>> cell (510)847-0308
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________________
>>> fluid-work mailing list - fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives,
>>> see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>
>> Allison Bloodworth
>> Senior User Interaction Designer
>> Educational Technology Services
>> University of California, Berkeley
>> (415) 377-8243
>> abloodworth at berkeley.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

Allison Bloodworth
Senior User Interaction Designer
Educational Technology Services
University of California, Berkeley
(415) 377-8243
abloodworth at berkeley.edu