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<h1>Eclipse Update Manager Usability Report</h1>

<p><i>Findings from the January 2003 Design Evaluation Sessions<br>
Author: Mike Wulkan</i></p>

<h2>1. Background</h2>

<p>In January of 2003 a Design Evaluation was held for a large 
commercial Eclipse product. One of the tasks the participants were expected to perform was the
installation of the product's add-on component. Observing the participants with regards to
this task highlighted several usability issues with the Update Manager. This report discusses these findings.</p>

<h2>2. Findings</h2>

<h3>Update Manager Perspective</h3>

<h4>Issue: The Update Manager perspective layout is too busy and over
functioned.</h4>

<p>When participants were first exposed to this perspective,
they had no idea what the difference between the Install Configuration view and
the Feature Updates view was.</p>

<h4>Discussion</h4>

<p>The Update Manager perspective contains three views;
Install Configuration, Feature Updates and Preview. From a task perspective it is unlikely that a
user will require both the Install Configuration and Feature Updates views at
the same time. The Install Configuration
view is primarily used for examining the product’s existing configuration and
modifying the settings of the current configuration, whereas the Feature
Updates view is used for installing updates and new components.</p>

<h4>Recommendation</h4>

<p>Reduce the Update Manager perspective to two views. The Install Configuration and Feature Updates
view should be merged into one tabbed pane.</p>

<h3>Feature Updates View</h3>

<h4>Issue: Participant understanding of the term "Available Updates" is not
crisp.</h4>

<p>Most participants proceeded down the path of selecting
Available Updates and then clicked the "Search Now" button, expecting to see
all of the components that the product could be <i>updated</i> with. The participants were surprised when the
“Search Now” function returned “No Available Updates”.</p>

<h4>Discussion</h4>

<p>Users blur the concept of updating an <i>existing</i>
component with that of installing a <i>new</i> component. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that
the other root of the tree is called “Sites to Visit”. This title, although accurate, tells the user
absolutely nothing as to why he or she would want to visit a site!</p>

<h4>Recommendation</h4>

<p class=MsoBodyText>The view needs to be re-factored so as to guide the user
between the two roots. This can be done
in several ways. One simple thing would
be to add another level above “Sites to Visit” called “Add New Components” in
order to more accurately distinguish between the <i>Add</i> and the <i>Update</i>
paths.</p>

<h4>Issue: Feature Updates view blurs the web metaphor with a fat client view</h4>

<p>When expanding the “Sites to Visit” node in the view, the
contents of the view are really bookmarks or web links, yet there is nothing to
indicate that the subtree is dynamically generated as would be expected if the
user understood that he or she was really browsing.</p>

<h4>Discussion</h4>

<p>As it stands right now the Update Manager perspective
presents a combination of information displayed like a local view and
information presented like a web browser. This makes it difficult for users to construct a mental model of how the
Update Manager really works.</p>

<h4>Issue: Restart message is misleading</h4>

<p align="center"><img width=436 height=129 src="images/image002.jpg"></img></p>

<p>Most participants took this to mean that they had to
restart, even though they had several other components to install. This lead to restarting the product up to 11
times!</p>

<h4>Recommendation</h4>

<p>This dialog should be reworded to read, "You will need to
restart the workbench for the changes to take effect. You may continue to install other components
before restarting the workbench. Would you like to restart now?"</p>

<p>I would also consider changing the default to be "No". </p>

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