Date Time Picker Paper Prototype User Testing - Round 1

Completed November 2009 by Erin Yu, Allison Bloodworth, Daphne Ogle & Judy Stern

Summary

High-level summary to be added after testing has been completed.

Notes

Goals

The test should discover:

1. Can users figure out how to move or close calendar?
2. Can users understand the meaning of the colors on the calendar?
3. Can users find the drop-downs to future years and months?
4. Is the scrolling time picker an understandable, usable metaphor?
5. Are users comfortable with dates & times being separate fields? Is there a need to combine the fields or show the time within the date picker?

Success Criteria

A successful design has been achieved when:

Protocol

Method and test coordinator script.

• Date Time Picker Paper Prototype User Testing - Round 1 Protocol

Users

Since the date picker will be used by a wide variety of users, we will attempt to do testing with students, faculty and staff.

Interaction Design

Underlying design patterns and description of component behavior.

Most of the screens in the paper prototype below are shown in the storyboards:

• Date Time Picker Storyboard - Selecting Opening Date and Time
• Date Time Picker Storyboard - Selecting Due Date and Time
• Date Time Picker Storyboard - Editing a selected date

Test Environment

Location and version of the environment that was used. Attach a screenshot of the environment at the time of testing if the environment will change over time.

• Paper prototype - Omnigraffle file

Results

Full notes and analysis of the user tests.

Date Time Picker Paper Prototype User Testing - Round 1 Results

• 4 of 7 users thought the hour and minute wheels on the time picker moved together.
• 3 of 7 users said they'd prefer to just edit the text box instead of use the time picker.
• 4 of 7 users thought they could or wanted to be able to move the calendar.
• 6 of 7 users easily found and chose to navigate to the next year using the year dropdown.
• 6 of 7 users seemed to understand the meaning of the colored dates on the calendar (though not the border--but this may have been due to it not being very vibrant on the printouts).
• One user said she'd like to be able to see all selected dates in the calendar so she could tell "when it's cramped between dates." Another user said he'd prefer to just see the date he's currently changing displayed in the calendar.
• One user suggested using green for start and red for stop dates in the calendar.
• One user pointed out that it is "weird" that the Accept until date is later than the Due date. 
• One user suggested making the picker disappear when moused out of its area.

More...