A usability test consists of “scenario tasks” that the tester has to complete (read more about scenarios and scenario tasks here). For my usability test of GNOME, I selected four applications – Gedit, Notes, Music and Photos. Of these, Gedit and Notes had already been tested in my mentor Jim Hall’s usability tests, and as per his suggestions the same tasks have been reused for these two applications, with minor changes.
Here’s the scenario task list for Gedit:
1. You want to finish writing a draft of a blog post that you are using in a project. You start the Gedit text editor (this has been done for you).
Please open the file blog post draft.txt from the Documents folder, into the Gedit text editor.
2. You realize that you got a few details wrong. Please make these edits:
In the first paragraph, change the dash (“—”) to a semicolon (“;”)
from this: Relationships are currency—you
to this: Relationships are currency; you
In the second paragraph, change “me” to “others”.
from relationship to me.
to relationship to others.
About 2/3 into the document, there’s a list of the “4 I’s” of relationships, but the first two items are out of order. Put these into the correct order, so the list reads like this:
- Initiate
- Inquire
- Invest
- Inspire
When you are done, please save the file. You can use the same filename.
3. Some of the names are incorrect in the file. Please replace every occurrence of Applejack with Fluttershy, and all instances of Rainbow Dash with Twilight Sparkle.
When you are done, please save the file. You can use the same filename.
4. You’d like to make a copy of the note, using a different name that you can find more easily later. Please save a copy of this note as Leadership lessons.txt in the Documents folder.
For the purposes of this exercise, you do not need to delete the original file.
5. You decide the text in the editor is difficult to read, and you would prefer to use a different style. Please change the text style to be Liberation Serif, 12 point.
And following are the scenario tasks for Notes!
- You need to type up a few quick reminders for yourself, so you don’t forget to do them later. Enter these two reminders into the Notes program. Match the formatting as best as you can:
First reminder:
Don’t forget: Jeff’s surprise party this Thursday. Check with Mark.
Second reminder:
Things to buy at the grocery store:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Cheese
2. You decide to be more clear in your reminder about Jeff’s surprise party, so you don’t forget the time.
Update that note to say this:
Don’t forget:
Jeff’s surprise party this Thursday.
Get together at 5:30.
Party at 7:00.
Check with Mark.
3. You decide the text in Notes is difficult to read, and you would prefer to use a different style. Please change the default text style to be Nimbus Sans L Regular Italic, 14 point.
4. This is the last task for Notes. Please delete all notes you may have created during this part of the usability test.
Part 2 will cover Music and Photos. Read it here.
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