Livna Usability Assessment (Was: Re: cursed nvidia fedora my lack of knowledgeness)

[Christopher A. Williams]

On Sun, 2005-11-13 at 01:49 +0200, Markku Kolkka wrote:
> Christopher A. Williams kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika 
> lauantai, 12. marraskuuta 2005 18:32):
> > ===================================
> > Well, clearly the site is mistaken. It claims to be a
> > repository, yet offers only news, RSS feeds, and bug reports.
> 
> Livna _is_ a repository, however the rpm.livna.org page isn't an 
> interface for using the repository. As the "usability 
> assessment" starts from completely wrong assumptions, the 
> conclusions are wrong as well.

...Umm...

Livna _is_ a repository and the Livna site page at rpm.livna.org _does_
claim to be one as well. You assumed that the person doing the
assessment made a series of wrong assumptions as a basis that leads to
wrong conclusions. He didn't. This person assumed nothing about the
site. It's his day job to assume nothing as a Usability expert and he
does this very well. I just asked him to look at it as a favor.

As proof that the site claims to be a repository on the front page, see
the first sentence under the site header, which states:

Welcome to rpm.livna.org, a repository of add-on packages for Fedora
Core.

Then, look at the 3rd sentence in the same section:

rpm.livna.org is not a standalone repository, but an extension of Fedora
Core and Extras. Please see our FAQ page for details.

That the site claims to be a repository isn't an assumption at all.
Therefore the person who made the assessment didn't start from
completely wrong assumptions that led to wrong conclusions.

Your impression of Livna seems to be pre-made as someone who already
knows and understands the difference between a Website, an interface and
a Yum repository. The average joe user we're supposedly trying to make
using Fedora easy for doesn't know this and doesn't care either.

I'm afraid it's your conclusions that are wrong.

> 
> > I would think that the #1 goal of a user visiting this site is
> > to download stuff, so they will be looking for a downloads
> > section, or a bunch of file icons, or hyperlinks to files.
> 
> Perhaps the front page should make more clear that the interface 
> for the repository is yum software running on the user's system, 
> not the website.

This is a small part of the feedback the person giving the assessment
said to begin with. They also have much more they would change to make
the site useful.

In addition to making clear what the actual interfaces are, it should
(among other things) also make clear and easy how to:

* Get the tools required to use the repository
* Use these tools effectively to find the most popular things people
look for
* Fix the most common problems people run into when using the tools

I'm sorry if someone called your baby ugly. This guy wasn't trying to
hurt anyone's feelings. He is a highly regarded expert in our company
with tons of Usability experience and an large portfolio of Websites he
has re-engineered with impressive results. Really, there's strong desire
and intent to help improve the site's usefulness, which is a good thing
for everyone.

Cheers,

Chris


-- 
======================
"Only two things are infinite,
the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former."

-- Albert Einstein