WordPress.org

lessbloat 8:49 pm on July 9, 2012 Permalink
Tags: discovery-cycle-2 ( 3 ), user-testing ( 12 )   

Here’s round 2 of the “WordPress as a CMS” user test. You can view round one here.

As much as I love spending 2+ hours making notes on each user test video, I’m going to try a different approach with this one. As you watch this one, please make a note in the comments if you spot anything that could be fixed. I’ve found the “2:23 – Something happened here” format to work pretty well.

▶

Share this:

• Press This
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Email

• 

  Adam W. Warner 9:03 pm on July 9, 2012 Permalink

  1:41 – the user wasn’t directed to “Save Changes” and no static page was seen on the forntend, but she didn’t realize that.

  • 

    lessbloat 12:52 pm on July 10, 2012 Permalink

    The last guy did that as well. And neither one of them bothered with selecting a page from the “Front page” and “post page” drop downs. I’ll modify the script slightly for the last user test to be more specific.

• 

  Andrew Ozz 10:04 pm on July 9, 2012 Permalink

  Yes, the user didn’t save a single setting. We can improve that by adding AYS on page unload when any settings fields have changed (like on the Edit Post screen when post_content has changed). Considering that settings aren’t changed often that seems acceptable interruption. Eventually can have a “Disable confirmation” in Screen Options to turn it off.

  Another idea: have a step-by-step help tab that can be opened from a well visible link at the top of each Appearance and Settings screen. This would be shown for new users only and dismissed on per-screen basis similarly to the Welcome postbox. In that tab, have steps for 2-3 common tasks that can be performed on the screen (UI like in the existing help slide-down).

• 

  Andrew Ozz 10:26 pm on July 9, 2012 Permalink

  Also, perhaps changing the visual style in Available Widgets to be more like a list of items, not similar to the widgets that are in the sidebar would be an improvement? Showing some sort of a popup menu on click with “Add to [main sidebar]” would probably help new users too.

• 

  lessbloat 3:06 pm on July 10, 2012 Permalink

  My notes:

  • 1:42 – Clicked static front-page (but didn’t save setting)
  • 2:58 – Had no problem adding a page (through “+ New” drop down menu)
  • 3:41 – She never published the contact us page (man, I’ve got to be super explicit with those instructions)
  • 4:40 – “Im definitely finding this to be confusing” referring to not knowing where to go to remove widgets.
  • 4:50 – Referring to the dashboard, “There is a lot of text, and a lot for me to read
  • 5:40 – Starts looking through left nav – link by link – to find where she can edit widgets
  • 6:17 – Looks under appearance – clicks “menus” link (did not see widgets link just above it)
  • 6:59 – On the widgets screen, she thought the widgets in the “Avbailable Widgets” section were the widgets active on her site, and tried dragging the “search” widget under “Active Widgets” to the “Inactive Widgets” area (She did not notice the “Main Sidebar” full of widgets)
  • 7:25 – She repeated dragging from “Active” to “Inactive” for all of the widgets (thinking she was successful)
  • 8:29 – “Those don’t really want to stay as I’m dragging them, I don’t understand why” – she mentioned as she would drag a widget down, and drop it in the “Inactive Widgets” area without being over a drop zone (thus the widget would disappear, and she’d have to start over).
  • 8:50 – The widgets were formatted really weird as she dragged them into the “Inactive Widgets” box and got them to stay. They weren’t aligned right at all.
  • 9:52 – She then deleted all widgets in the “Inactive Widgets” area, and they went away, so she thought she was golden.
  • 11:00 – She still thinks “Active Widgets” are her main sidebar – tries clicking on the “Text” widget, but nothing happened.
  • 11:21 – “How do I actually open this widget though, it’s saying that it’s available”
  • 11:41 – She figured out how to drag it to the “Showcase Sidebar” (and not the “Main side” which I thought was interesting)
  • 14:40 – “It really does have everything to build a website – It’s awesome” (Good to hear )

  Thoughts:

  • So, first off, I need to be much specific in my instructions. I’m going to do my best to get this last user to actually set the “Front page displays” setting properly.
  • The dashboard (as we know), put her into a bit of sensory overload.
  • Watching this user use the widgets screen provided some unique insights (starts at 6:40).
  • Since the “Active Widgets” were front and center, she assumed they were the ones currently activated on her site.
  • Drag and drop of widgets posed some momentary challenges
  • There were some brief formatting issues in the “Inactive Widgets” box at about 8:40.