KDE Usability - First Steps

Test Results

Overall, test participants went through tasks 1, 2, and 4 easily. 3 and 5 caused some problems. While some participants noted that KDE looked different from Windows, none seemed bothered by the differences and the look-and-feel of KDE. Users identified all the elements of the interface without any trouble including KDE's Konqueror and KMail icons. Most users seemed to understand the K menu's presence and function intuitively and they used it much more than I had anticipated. This is, I think, a reassuring observations for many who worry that it is too confusing to a new user. The layout of the menu itself could probably use a little work but that is a subject for another set of tests. KMail performed particularly well as all users went through basic e-mail tasks without any hesitation.

Small Issues

Completed Download Confirmation

Users had no trouble downloading a file from the net but the absence of a confirmation that the download was complete was surprising to some. This is especially problematic with small files or on fast networks when no progress bar is ever displayed. It is my understanding though that KDE 3.1 will provide a “Keep this window open after the operation is complete” checkbox which is a step in the right direction to solve this problem.

System Tray Items Tooltips

All elements on the panel and its default applets have tooltips with the exception of the System Tray. Users exploring the system took advantage of tooltips and I was able to observe that they served their purpose quite effectively. Users have obviously learnt to rely on them. Making sure that System Tray items also include tooltips would make exploring KDE safer.

While we're on the subject of tooltips... The K menu's tooltip reads “Start Application” which left at least one user perplexed. The K menu's tooltip definition could probably be rewritten to say something a little more engaging and should at the very least say “Start Applications,” in the plural.

Bigger Issues

Personalizing the Desktop

Most test participants were able to switch desktop background but all had trouble with the task. Their first instinct was often to use the K menu, select “Preferences,” then “Personalization.” They looked long and hard in those “Personalization” modules, convinced that what they saw as desktop customization was there. The second most looked at module was “Desktop” under “Look-and-Feel.” Some eventually found the “Background” module, some gave up the “Control Center” altogether and tried their luck with the Panel's “Preferences...” option.

Right-click Paste

One user, when asked to move files from one directory to another (task 2), selected all icons, right-clicked to select cut from the context menu, then selected the destination folder, right-clicked again and selected paste from the context menu. A Windows user, he was expecting that this would move all files to the directory he had selected. What happened instead was that his files were moved to the selected directory's parent directory.1

File Dialog Window

When users were asked to download a PDF document in their home directory, all of them did so without any major problem. At the same time, all showed some hesitation when dealing with KDE's “Save As...” dialog window and specifically with the location shortcut box on the left. This box was the first thing that all users directed their attention to indicating, I think, that its visual and practical appeal is undeniable. Yet the choice and the ordering of its items and the current default are confusing.2

The box is built as follows: the first item is “Desktop,” and points to /home/<user>/Desktop; the second item, “Documents,” which is selected by default, points to /home/<user> as does the third item, “Home Directory.”

Throughout the test, I asked users to use the “Home directory” as the base for all their file management tasks. I made this choice because /home/<user> has always been the primary “building block” of file management a Unix system presented to its users. Generally speaking, KDE respects this convention: there is a “Home” icon on the desktop, a “Home (Personal Files)” entry in the K menu, etc..

But the current file dialog window, of which “Save As...” is only one instance, is inconsistent in this regard. Though “Documents” and “Home Directory” are in fact the same, they appear to the users as separate. All test participants had to click back and forth between the two a couple of times to come to the conclusion that either both locations were the same or that one of the two buttons didn't work properly as “nothing happened” when switching for one to the other.

Single-click vs. Double-click

Every single new KDE user I have ever casually observed was caught by surprise by KDE's “active” single-click default policy. Testing confirmed this observation. All test participants have task after task made the same mistake of double-clicking when a single-click would have been sufficient. Unfortunately, I neglected to ask test participants how they felt about this particular point —I'm still new at this!— but I know from observing them that it did slow them down. For instance, it made copying and pasting files difficult by creating superfluous windows to close and forcing them to concentrate on a task they were otherwise comfortable with. In one case, one user nearly saved his files in the Trash because of this. As he double-clicked the Desktop icon of the “Save As...” dialog box, the system interpreted his action as a single-click on the Desktop icon followed by a single-click on the Trash icon, the latter occupying the space of the former after a single “active” click. The user eventually backed out but never realized what he was about to do.

I'm not sure why KDE makes single-clicking its “active” click. Historically Macintosh and Windows desktops adopted the same conventions for icon selection and document opening: single-click is for selecting, double-click is for opening or launching. This is not always the case anymore but I have yet to see a computer user single-clicking on an icon to open a document or launch an application. The notion that double-clicking “does something” is in fact so entrenched that it is not uncommon to see people double-clicking on hyperlinks when surfing the web.