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4 :     <title>Contemporary Report</title>
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8 :    
9 :     <h1>Eclipse Update Manager Usability Report</h1>
10 :    
11 :     <p><i>Findings from the January 2003 Design Evaluation Sessions<br>
12 :     Author: Mike Wulkan</i></p>
13 :    
14 :     <h2>1. Background</h2>
15 :    
16 :     <p>In January of 2003 a Design Evaluation was held for a large
17 :     commercial Eclipse product. One of the tasks the participants were expected to perform was the
18 :     installation of the product's add-on component. Observing the participants with regards to
19 :     this task highlighted several usability issues with the Update Manager. This report discusses these findings.</p>
20 :    
21 :     <h2>2. Findings</h2>
22 :    
23 :     <h3>Update Manager Perspective</h3>
24 :    
25 :     <h4>Issue: The Update Manager perspective layout is too busy and over
26 :     functioned.</h4>
27 :    
28 :     <p>When participants were first exposed to this perspective,
29 :     they had no idea what the difference between the Install Configuration view and
30 :     the Feature Updates view was.</p>
31 :    
32 :     <h4>Discussion</h4>
33 :    
34 :     <p>The Update Manager perspective contains three views;
35 :     Install Configuration, Feature Updates and Preview. From a task perspective it is unlikely that a
36 :     user will require both the Install Configuration and Feature Updates views at
37 :     the same time. The Install Configuration
38 :     view is primarily used for examining the product’s existing configuration and
39 :     modifying the settings of the current configuration, whereas the Feature
40 :     Updates view is used for installing updates and new components.</p>
41 :    
42 :     <h4>Recommendation</h4>
43 :    
44 :     <p>Reduce the Update Manager perspective to two views. The Install Configuration and Feature Updates
45 :     view should be merged into one tabbed pane.</p>
46 :    
47 :     <h3>Feature Updates View</h3>
48 :    
49 :     <h4>Issue: Participant understanding of the term "Available Updates" is not
50 :     crisp.</h4>
51 :    
52 :     <p>Most participants proceeded down the path of selecting
53 :     Available Updates and then clicked the "Search Now" button, expecting to see
54 :     all of the components that the product could be <i>updated</i> with. The participants were surprised when the
55 :     “Search Now” function returned “No Available Updates”.</p>
56 :    
57 :     <h4>Discussion</h4>
58 :    
59 :     <p>Users blur the concept of updating an <i>existing</i>
60 :     component with that of installing a <i>new</i> component. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that
61 :     the other root of the tree is called “Sites to Visit”. This title, although accurate, tells the user
62 :     absolutely nothing as to why he or she would want to visit a site!</p>
63 :    
64 :     <h4>Recommendation</h4>
65 :    
66 :     <p class=MsoBodyText>The view needs to be re-factored so as to guide the user
67 :     between the two roots. This can be done
68 :     in several ways. One simple thing would
69 :     be to add another level above “Sites to Visit” called “Add New Components” in
70 :     order to more accurately distinguish between the <i>Add</i> and the <i>Update</i>
71 :     paths.</p>
72 :    
73 :     <h4>Issue: Feature Updates view blurs the web metaphor with a fat client view</h4>
74 :    
75 :     <p>When expanding the “Sites to Visit” node in the view, the
76 :     contents of the view are really bookmarks or web links, yet there is nothing to
77 :     indicate that the subtree is dynamically generated as would be expected if the
78 :     user understood that he or she was really browsing.</p>
79 :    
80 :     <h4>Discussion</h4>
81 :    
82 :     <p>As it stands right now the Update Manager perspective
83 :     presents a combination of information displayed like a local view and
84 :     information presented like a web browser. This makes it difficult for users to construct a mental model of how the
85 :     Update Manager really works.</p>
86 :    
87 :     <h4>Issue: Restart message is misleading</h4>
88 :    
89 :     <p align="center"><img width=436 height=129 src="images/image002.jpg"></img></p>
90 :    
91 :     <p>Most participants took this to mean that they had to
92 :     restart, even though they had several other components to install. This lead to restarting the product up to 11
93 :     times!</p>
94 :    
95 :     <h4>Recommendation</h4>
96 :    
97 :     <p>This dialog should be reworded to read, "You will need to
98 :     restart the workbench for the changes to take effect. You may continue to install other components
99 :     before restarting the workbench. Would you like to restart now?"</p>
100 :    
101 :     <p>I would also consider changing the default to be "No". </p>
102 :    
103 :     </body>
104 :     </html>