[IconTesting] - What to test?

Hi all,

when we start to test icons, one of the first things we need to do is to
select the subset of icons we want to do in the first test.

To frame it a bit:
- We should include about 15 to 25 icons into each test
- Icons we take should ideally be used somehow grouped in the interface as
well (not neccissarily though all in 1 group)
- For the first tests we should find a set of icons with both - icons we think
are good and icons we think will need improvement


Apart from that, icons can come from any part of LibreOffice - so: which ones
should we take for starting the first test?

Cheers,
Björn
--
www.OpenUsability.org
www.OpenSource-Usability-Labs.com

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Hello Björn,

here's a couple of proposals for icons to test:
* the "Styles and Formatting" icon (especially the one in Tango)
* the "Save" icon (diskettes, cabinets, hard drives ... do users find
this confusing?)
* the metaphor of the "Format paintbrush"
* "Crop" (present only in Impress/Draw) – we use a scissors for that,
but that is already used to signify "Cut", Adobe products use stylised
versions of some sort of old-fashioned photo cropping rulers, GIMP
uses a simple cutter knife – what do users like better?

However, none of these are to be found in the same group, yet, if we
take the group that sits around them usually ... we probably already
have what you say is a good amount.

Astron.

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Hi Astron,


Am Montag, 18. Juni 2012, 10:47:01 schrieb Stefan Knorr:
> Hello Björn,
>
> here's a couple of proposals for icons to test:
> * the "Styles and Formatting" icon (especially the one in Tango)

Do we actually have different Icon styles, we ship by default? (as you are
referring to the Tango Icons).

> * the "Save" icon (diskettes, cabinets, hard drives ... do users find
> this confusing?)

Experience shows this working for some reasons - but testing it is ok!

> * the metaphor of the "Format paintbrush"
> * "Crop" (present only in Impress/Draw) – we use a scissors for that,
> but that is already used to signify "Cut", Adobe products use stylised
> versions of some sort of old-fashioned photo cropping rulers, GIMP
> uses a simple cutter knife – what do users like better?
>
> However, none of these are to be found in the same group, yet, if we
> take the group that sits around them usually ... we probably already
> have what you say is a good amount.

That definitely is a good idea. This would provide us with a good set of
icons.

I cannot find you in the LibreOffice team on userweave - can I help you in
anyway there?

Björn

>
> Astron.
--
www.OpenUsability.org
www.OpenSource-Usability-Labs.com

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Hi Björn,

> Do we actually have different Icon styles, we ship by default? (as you are
> referring to the Tango Icons).

Depending on who built your LibreOffice package you will find just one
(and can install the others later on) or you will find many – Ubuntu for
instance ships only Human by default. However, you should be able to
install the others, their Ubuntu package names e.g. start with
libreoffice-style-*.
On Windows and Mac, the official builds should ship with all the icon
sets.
You can switch between them from within Tools - Options... - LibreOffice
- View - Icon size and style.
It's a big problem though that our themes are incredibly unwieldy (~4000
images per theme, badly organised) and that none of the themes is
actually complete, not even Ooo's Galaxy theme.



> > * the "Save" icon (diskettes, cabinets, hard drives ... do users find
> > this confusing?)
>
> Experience shows this working for some reasons - but testing it is ok!

Because it always appears together the hardly changing new document /
open document icons..?
(Eventually, as everyone moves away from folders though, we might have
to adapt the Open document icon though... they seem to increasingly be
replaced by timelines/tags/nothing and people will be increasingly
unfamiliar with folders, even though these likely won't ever go away
completely.)


Sorry, no, haven't registered yet.

Astron.


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Am Dienstag, 19. Juni 2012, 02:00:15 schrieb Stefan Knorr:
I really wasn't aware of that. So we probably first should think about which
Icon theme we are testing, then picking the icons... :)

So: Galaxy? As it is the default theme?


No, because the icons loose their initial meaning and become a learned symbol.
I am really in doubt if it makes sense to modify the metaphor to use something
different in these cases. There are tons of examples in the same class (who
uses shiny metal containers for a database nowadays?)


Would be happy to see you there :) - I will definitely need help on this
journey :)


Björn
--
www.OpenUsability.org
www.OpenSource-Usability-Labs.com

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Hi Björn,

> So: Galaxy? As it is the default theme?

Hm, not any more, LibreOffice uses the Tango theme by default (and this
is the theme that should be tested).
Galaxy is still Open Office's default theme, however, it nearly only
works well on Windows and well, the LibreOffice devs want to avoid too
much visual sameness with Apache's project.


> No, because the icons loose their initial meaning and become a learned symbol.
> I am really in doubt if it makes sense to modify the metaphor to use something
> different in these cases. There are tons of examples in the same class (who
> uses shiny metal containers for a database nowadays?)

I have no idea what those cylindrical objects are supposed to mean, tbh.
So, yes, I know these are supposed to mean something like "data base" –
but it has nothing to do with my real life/world. I somehow think just
relying on such learned symbols is a bit of a perilous path...


> Would be happy to see you there :) - I will definitely need help on this
> journey :)

I have registered now, so you could now add me to the team. (By the way,
my asking whether I could join via the internal messaging system bounced
off apliki's server.)

Astron.


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Hi Astron,

Am Samstag, 23. Juni 2012, 02:50:29 schrieb Stefan Knorr:
> Hi Björn,
>
> > So: Galaxy? As it is the default theme?
>
> Hm, not any more, LibreOffice uses the Tango theme by default (and this
> is the theme that should be tested).
> Galaxy is still Open Office's default theme, however, it nearly only
> works well on Windows and well, the LibreOffice devs want to avoid too
> much visual sameness with Apache's project.

What we need next is a .zip of the icons (guess 24*24 or 32*32 pixel would be
fine) and a list of the terms they represent - this would most likely be the
tooltip appearing when mouse is hoovered. Can you pick them?

> > No, because the icons loose their initial meaning and become a learned
> > symbol. I am really in doubt if it makes sense to modify the metaphor to
> > use something different in these cases. There are tons of examples in the
> > same class (who uses shiny metal containers for a database nowadays?)
>
> I have no idea what those cylindrical objects are supposed to mean, tbh.
> So, yes, I know these are supposed to mean something like "data base" –
> but it has nothing to do with my real life/world. I somehow think just
> relying on such learned symbols is a bit of a perilous path...

We will see in the results. (Not for databases, but for 'save'). And actually
there used to be a time where data storage was done in big shiny metal
containers, just as you can still see them on the icon... ;)
 
> > Would be happy to see you there :) - I will definitely need help on this
> > journey :)
>
> I have registered now, so you could now add me to the team.
I have added you to the team, so you can now change things in the project. I
have also started to create the icontest study - it is called '1207 Icontest'.
The icons are still missing (either you send me the icons and terms - or you
simply add them yourself). The study is a first suggestion and of course is
subject to discussion. I have added a simple demographic questionnaire, so we
can see what kind of users we reach. Discussion welcome!


> (By the way,
> my asking whether I could join via the internal messaging system bounced
> off apliki's server.)
Thanks for notification - checking this!

Björn
 
> Astron.
--
www.OpenUsability.org
www.OpenSource-Usability-Labs.com

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