Development Guidelines -

Usability Rules

These are some rules to try to follow to provide a good user experience

• Avoid displaying "True", "False" or "None", there are code terms and will confus some users. Try "Yes", "No" or "-" instead.

Usability Testing

Whilst we have had a fair amount of testing and bug reports filed, we are also looking for good user experience testing and recommended improvements to make it easier for untrained users to operate Sahana effectively in challenging situations.

We are currently going through a lot of Rapid Application Development as new requests for capabilities go in, and this sometimes means that the user experience is less than optimal. As such, we'd like some good testing of the user experience, and would welcome any suggestions and improvements.

Rules of Engagement

• The testing should take place on our Demo server which is located at ​http://demo.eden.sahanafoundation.org/ - your first task will be to register and apply for an account ;)
• You will need a Trac account to log tickets for UI/UX bugs and enhancements - please jump into #sahana-eden on irc.freenode.net and ask for an account to be created for you.
• Please do not enter test data on any production servers for obvious reasons.
• Please file bugs/technical issues as tickets as per the Bug Reporting Guidelines.
• If you wish to capture some general advice and guidance, please add it to this wiki page in the Usability Guidelines below.
• We are not currently testing the installation process, our main UX interest currently is around the deployed interface.

Usability Resources

Please note all usability recommendations and guidelines here.

• ​http://www.uxmag.com/design/the-psychologists-view-of-ux-design
• ​Don't Make Me Think
• ​http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/24/designing-drop-down-menus-examples-and-best-practices/
• ​http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2006/07/label-placement-in-forms.php
• ​GeoExt style guidelines
• Check popular websites, such as Google, Facebook
• Section 508 Compliance. This is a US regulation for ensuring that websites are accessible to people with disabilities. In particular ensure that they are compatible with screen readers:
  • Checklist (short)​
  • Checklist (long)​
• For Screen Readers (?) ​http://www.daisy.org/daisy-standard

Usability Questions

There are a number of usability decisions that the developers of Sahana Eden find challenging to make - we're too deep in the code to be objective about it. If you're a user or a a UX wizz, it would be great to have your input!

• (hrm/human_resource/create) Should we hide the person sub-form whilst we're selecting from the registry?
• Should search pages use a single (google-esque) text box to search all fields, or separate boxes for different fields
• Should pages start as "Read" and have a button to edit (ideally without a JS call) or is it OK to default straight to the update form?

Usability Feedback

Please feel free to share your Usability Feedback here - or have a go at actioning any of this feedback!

From IBM's UX team

1. Selected tabs can have a changed color {other than non selected} to indicate which part of website we are in.
2. "More" Tab has too many links, If possible, few section from "More" tab should be clubbed together.
3. The hover (drop-down menu) appears only in the "More" part of the top menu. So perhaps it may be good to put that in another font or, if possible, put a arrow besides "More"
4. Most pages usually have "News" in the top section of the main page.
5. The twitter items can actually be just shown through a twitter icon such as the one in ​http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/index.html at the bottom. (just a suggestion).
6. A neat footer can be given in all pages, so as to enable direct link to section. Since this is a current trend - it will be making the visual composition more balanced as well as usable. An example of a footer is at the bottom of: ​http://www.ibm.com/us/en/

---

DeveloperGuidelines

Projects/Advanced/Usability