Week Four

Compiz Manager

This week I finally managed to sort out the graphics driver, in order to enable Compiz visual desktop effects. The problem was actually very easy to solve. I simply had to remove the driver in the hardware driver manger and then add it again (clicking a button twice). However I had previously been reluctant to do this, worrying that it might cause permanent problems to the graphics of the computer, with no obvious way of re-installing the driver. The information provided in the hardware drive manager was unclear. Simple instructions here could have been useful and would make users with similar problems feel more in control.

In terms of the visual effects enabled in the Compiz manager, many of them are entirely pointless, such as raining on the screen, paining fire and wobbly windows. However it can be argued that it is touches like these that make a user feel like they are using a special operating system. In other words they may not increase usability, but they enhance the user experience. One interesting visual effect is the rotating cube, which allows the user to use shortcut keys to spin a 3D cube to different workspaces. Features like this make the user feel like they are using a next generation desktop.

In terms of improving the Compiz manager itself, a little more information on what each of the effects does could be helpful. Also the backspace shortcut cannot be used to navigate back a level (an inconsistency in the navigation controls for the rest of the system). However altogether the visual effects are a particularly positive additional feature of the GNOME desktop.

Screenlets

Another interesting feature discovered this week is Screenlets. They are small widgets that sit on te desktop, such as clocks, sticky notes, RSS feeds, search functions and other useful tools. This feature should be arguably installed from default. Again it is those little touches that will attract users to Ubuntu and separate it from other operating systems.

The downfall is that there are only around 30 widgets to chose from without having to open a browser and finding the source codes for further screenlets, which then require a manual install through the terminal. Also when a screenlet is added to the desktop it is at the front of windows by default. It is unlikely that users want this as it will get in the way of the main task the user attends to.

A number of other usability issues were found this week

Flash and SWF player

Both of these (or similar) should be installed on default. Ubuntu will alienate many average users who cannot access websites such as youtube and are un-sure how to install flash player in linux.

File replacements in folders

When replacing a file into a folder with a file of the same name, information on the size of the two files should be presented to the user at the very least.

Add/Remove Manager

When a search is entered, the system should present the user with the number of hits for that search.

Firefox

When there are too many bookmarks to fit into the bookmark menu down one length of the screen, small arrows appear at the bottom and top of the menu to allow navigation up and down the menu. These arrows are tiny and can be very hard to see the first time. Larger arrows or symbols that attract the users attention would improve visibility.