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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: Useability concernsUseability concerns
From: Sam Pattuzzi <sam.pattuzzi_at_googlemail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:58:11 +0000 Hey all, I'm quite concerned with the state of usability with Rockbox. Don't get me wrong, I love Rockbox and use it all the time but I don't think I would feel great giving it so somebody less tech-savy than me. So some of the obvious usability concerns are as follows: * Inconsistent key mappings: The key mapping change depending on where you are. This is very difficult for a user to figure out, I still get it wrong and I've been using Rockbox for a couple of years. One button should take you back, one should skip to the WPS no matter what, etc... (excluding plug-ins). Even when key mappings are context sensitive there should be some level of logic behind it. * Having said that, plug-ins should also have a common way of exiting (because it's often a matter of guess work), my suggestion here is using the hold button to bring up some generic or plug-in defined menu screen giving the user the option to quit. This should be available no matter what, this way the user always has a way of exiting. * Long press key mappings: These are really hard to discover and very unintuitive. Admittedly, I don't know what the best way of getting around this could be. I was thinking maybe having all the extra options you need in one context menu then mapping that to the MENU key (obvious place for a menu). * Inconsistent look and feel: The WPS screen is so different from the rest of the interface. Maybe some effort should go into unifying this a bit. An example: in the normal interface you have a bar at the top giving basic information, in the WPS this disappears, why? Instead it is replace with a differently styled bar at the bottom. Confusing? (I really like the new WPS style, can we extend this better to the rest of Rockbox?) * I really need to get noting all the problems I find in a notepad so that I can recall them at a later date. Disclaimer: I'm no usability expert, these are just some of the things that jump out at me. At some point I would like to draw up a list of common task and do some formal usability testing. Disclaimer 2: I use and iPod nano 1g. I don't know what the key mappings are like for any other devices. Maybe this is part of the problem, having key mappings across multiple devices. Regards, Sam Pattuzzi Received on 2009-11-21 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |