[Mailman-Developers] mailman 3: webinterface: prototype (PDF)

[Patrick Ben Koetter]

* Terri Oda <terri at zone12.com>:
> Patrick Ben Koetter wrote:
>>> Can we add a search box for options?  It might not be necessary on 
>>> the  smaller pages, but the full admin/owner interface looks like 
>>> it's still  going to be sufficiently busy that it could help.
>>
>> We can. But I, personally, would want to wait for usability test and see if we
>> can do without it simply because it makes the interface more complex.
>
> Well, here's some user data from a recent mailman-users post
>
> http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/msg53494.html
>
> This is a *common* way for people to find things in the current mailman  
> admin interface, sadly.  I've watched people do it and had people tell  
> me in person that's how they find things too.  Most people who maintain  
> mailing lists do settings changes infrequently, and often under some  
> time pressure.  And they never have time to learn the menu hierarchy  
> unless they maintain a lot of different types of lists.  And often not  
> even then.  There's a lot of options there, and most people nowadays are  
> used to the google method of finding things. ;)
>
> I totally understand not wanting to add too much extra, but... my user  
> observations thus far imply that this is a feature that would be used  
> heavily.

Agreed. If it helps we will find a place for it.


>> The test scenario affects the outcome of the test. We need to standardize the
>> test before we run it. I might be able to get some people from a usability lab
>> we work with help us. Let me check that.
>
> I'm an academic researcher professionally, so I'm well aware of issues  
> in testing methodologies.  But honestly?  Don't get caught up in doing  
> Perfect Science here.  Even a quick, dirty, messy user study would give  

Believe me. I won't. ;)


> us a lot of information that could be useful.  The current interface  
> suffers badly from lack of user testing, and I'd hate for the same to be  
> true of the new one.

Yes.

> If you need more help with user studies, I should be able get some help  
> from the usability research lab here.  I know one of the profs here  
> expressed interest in mailman usability in the past, and we may be able  
> to find people willing to work on the problem.

That would be the perfect opportunity. Please ask him if he's still interested. 

The question is: How do I get there. I life in Munich, Germany.

p at rick

-- 
state of mind
Agentur für Kommunikation, Design und Softwareentwicklung

http://www.state-of-mind.de

Franziskanerstraße 15      Telefon +49 89 3090 4664
81669 München              Telefax +49 89 3090 4666

Amtsgericht München        Partnerschaftsregister PR 563