This morning I ran 2 users through some “widget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.” scenarios.
Here are the videos: User 1 & User 2.
User #1
Step 1: Log in
No issues.
Step 2: Check out your site
No issues.
Step 3: Go to widgets screen
No issues.
Step 4: Remove widgets
No issues.
Step 5: Add text widget
Looks like he skipped this step…
Step 6: Add pages widget
3:55 – When he saved the changes he had made to the “pages” widget, he clicked the “Save” button multiple times. Looks like he was unsure as to whether the changes were saved.
Step 7: Reorganize widgets
No issues.
Step 8: Preview changes
No issues.
User #2
She says she’s done a lot of blogging (but only on Blogger). She was excited for the chance to try WordPress.
Step 1: Log in
No issues.
Step 2: Check out your site
No issues.
Step 3: Go to widgets screen
2:20 – She got confused by the wording of my instructions. She found her way to the widgets screen, but thought she was in the wrong place. My bad.
3:30 – and she’s back on track…
4:55 – “Well that is different from Blogger, but I really like that. That is so much more simple”, she says referring to the way you can add and remove widgets by dragging and dropping.
Step 4: Remove widgets
No issues.
Step 5: Add text widget
No issues.
Step 6: Add pages widget
No issues.
Step 7: Reorganize widgets
No issues.
Step 8: Preview changes
No issues.
Observations/Thoughts
- Both users skipped step 5 (where I asked them to add a text widget with an image of a dog). This was unintended. Must have been a glitch. 🙁
- They both breezed right through this. I guess that’s a good thing. 😉 What else (related to widgets) can I add if I retest these scenarios in the future?
- When saving changes to a widgets, we should show the spinner, and then perhaps “saved” for a brief second (like we do now with media properties). That way users don’t have to guess whether their changes were saved.
- The “First Front Page Widget Area” and the “Second Front Page Widget Area” sections only work when a static front page A WordPress website can have a dynamic blog-like front page, or a “static front page” which is used to show customized content. Typically this is the first page you see when you visit a site url, like wordpress.org for example. is set. Should they just be hidden until the user sets a static front page?