OSDPL User Testing - Round 1 Results

Summary

2 of 3 users assumed that "Contributor" by default meant them.
2 of 3 users did not use the "Upload" button to upload an image
4 of 4 users (3 formal users, 1 informal user) weren't sure what happened after submission of a pattern.
3 of 3 users found their patterns relatively quickly using "View/Edit My Patterns."
2 of 3 users wondered how the material on the OSDPL related to what was on the Fluid wiki and seemed somewhat unsure about the distinction between a component and design pattern (these 2 users already knew about Fluid).
2 of 3 users said they would like to be able to save a design pattern without all the required fields (presumably as an in-progress draft).
User registration was relatively painless. All users were able to register without any major problems. (Successful registration feedback message helped user #1).
Single page pattern entry form seemed to work well. None of the users remarked on the length of the form, but one user did mention that the tabs helped her see what the high-level categories were without having to scroll.

Demographics

User Number	Location	Gender	Age	Job Title	Role	Tech-savvy	Do you own a personal computer?
User 1	Berkeley	Female	25-30	Graduate Student	Student	Medium-high, unfamiliar with design patterns	Yes, Mac
User 2	Berkeley	Female	31-35	User Experience Specialist	Staff	Medium, slightly familiar with design patterns	Yes, Mac OS 10.5
User 3	Berkeley	Male	Over 60 years	Professor	Faculty	Medium-high, very familiar with design patterns	Yes, Mac

Do you do any of the following and if so how often?

User	Checking email	Instant message	Shop online	Online banking	Internet research	Take class online	Social networking
User 1	All the time	All the time	A few times a month	A few times a month	All the time	Hardly ever	All the time
User 2	All the time	A few times a week	A few times a month	A few times a month	Never	Hardly ever	Never
User 3	All the time	Hardly ever	A few times a month	Hardly ever	All the time	Never	A few times a week

Do you upload files on the web and if so how often?

User	Pictures	Media	Docs to course site	Docs to soc. ntwkg	File to email
User 1	A few times a month	A few times a month	A few times a month	A few times a month	A few times a week
User 2	A few times a month	Hardly Ever	Never	Hardly Ever	A few times a week
User 3	All the time	A few times a week	All the time	Hardly Ever	All the time

Post-test Questionnaire Responses

Question	User 1	User 2	User 3
How easy or difficult was it for you to find a design pattern on the site?	neutral	easy	easy
How helpful did you find the design patterns you looked at on the site?	somewhat helpful	somewhat helpful	helpful
How helpful did you find the other information available on the site?	somewhat helpful	somewhat helpful	N/A
How helpful did you find the left navigation of the site?	helpful	helpful	helpful
How easy or difficult was it for you to discover how to create a design pattern?	neutral	easy	easy
How easy or difficult was it for you to create a design pattern in general?	difficult	easy	easy
Which version of the design pattern data entry form did you prefer?	slightly preferred tabbed (would have greatly preferred tabbed if it didn't have submit on every page)	slightly preferred single page	highly preferred single page
How easy or difficult was it for you to upload an image?	easy	easy (as long as it was the right image size)	very easy
How easy or difficult was it for you to describe and/or list the source of an image?	easy	difficult (didn't have one)	easy
If you encountered an error, was it easy or difficult to understand the feedback given?	easy	easy	easy
After submitting a design pattern, how easy or difficult was it to find your pattern on the site?	easy	easy (wasn't indexed, but "my pattern" worked)	easy
After creating the design pattern, how easy or difficult was it to edit it?	easy	easy	very easy

Post-test Question Responses (verbally asked)

Question	User 1	User 2	User 3
1) Why did/didn't you explore the various links in the navigation of the OSDPL? Could you tell me what you think the links in the left navigation mean? How could we make these pages or the link names of this navigation more helpful to you?	not sure what the News section is. Thinks it's customer comments. Clicked on comment for one of the news items and tries to add a comment. Input format text appearing below text field. Scanned it over. Initially failed at Captcha, but then succeeds. After submitting comment, she is surprised not to see it on the front page. Clicks "Read More" and doesn't see it there. Goes back and clicks "1 comment" and finally finds it. User assumed comments were for the whole site, but now realizes these are comment on each News item.	"I didn't feel I needed to read the FAQ." Would like to have the pages easily available "if I need them in context to what I'm doing." "How to write a pattern was easy to find but I sort of wish it was built into the form somehow because I wanted to make sure I was writing this in a standardized way. Could have put the directions in the text field itself that could be edited away." "Doesn't really say how many patterns are in there"...then she sees all patterns. She wants to know total number but only two pages. "Can't imagine anyone wanting to come in and browse, searching on design problems. Inline edit -- I wouldn't have used this word." "If there are people who are new to this, there could be people who want to experiment with this and set up accounts and it gets filled with crap, especially if people don't realize their drafts are out there. Which are reviewed, favorited? What if two people submitted design patterns for the same problem? Would you expect people to collaborate or would there be competing designs." "Assuming people who come to this site have a design background."	Recently Added Patterns is good.
2) What tasks would you expect to perform on the OSDPL? How helpful was the general organization and navigation of the pattern library in supporting you in performing these tasks? What could we improve to make it easier?	"Who is the target of this site? Someone (that) is familiar with design patterns, that kind of person can figure it out easily, but (for) someone like me it could be difficult to solve the problem I have." Feels that someone like her would be confused - coming to the site, wasn't clear how the site can help her with solving her problem / task. Comments that if she can see visual examples first, can better orient her.	Would like to be able to submit incomplete drafts "I think the navigation is fine--there are certain things I haven't explored."	It was pretty good overall. Might be nice to have a way to create diagrams for the patterns.
3) Do the design patterns on the site have the type of information you need? What information could we add, subtract, reorganize, etc. to make it easier for you to use the patterns?	At first it took a while, but once she understood, she can now get to the information she wants. Remarked at how it is not clear how it works after submitting the pattern.	"I'd want to give more thought to that. (I'd) compare it to the wiki." (Again, confusion about components vs. design patterns.)
4) Did you have all the information you needed at the right time to perform your tasks? What could we change to make it easier?		"Other than 'how to write a pattern," yes."	Make it clearer what to do and when I was done. I thought Submit was on a per tab basis.
5) Could you tell us which version of the pattern data entry form you preferred and why?	Liked the tabbed version because it looked more simple than the long version. But if the submit button is changed to be on the last tab only, then perhaps it would be even better.	I would have liked to be able to submit by answering the required questions Preferred long form mostly because she couldn't tell whether she could submit or not - the button was always there. If the buttons weren't on every page, she did like that the tabs told her what would be further down in the form without scrolling.	Preferred the single page. Even if there weren't submit buttons on every tab I would have preferred the single page.
6) What was your overall impression of the pattern creation and editing process? How can we improve it?	Make it clear what happens after a pattern is submitted. Doesn't know why the search isn't working.	"I want more information about how to write a problem and the other pieces. Wasn't clear what the difference was between the examples and solution image."	It was pretty good. Would be nice to know how you could invite colleagues to edit your patterns.

Interaction Notes

User Number	Task 1 - Locate a Design Pattern	Task 2 - Create a Design Pattern	Task 3 - Edit your Design Pattern
User 1	In performing this task, user isn't sure if an account is required. Clicks on "Login" first, enters her email address and a password not realizing she doesn't have an account on the system. After getting a login error, she finds the Register tab quickly and user registration process goes smoothly. Given task b (inline edit of a profile). Thought she should find patterns related to profile and searched on "profile" with no results. User is unfamiliar with design patterns. After reading "What is a Design Pattern" she says it's "still a bit vague." She goes to the "Recently Updated Pattern" on the front page and says the picture in the pattern helped her better understand what a pattern is. User doesn't appear to see "Browse Patterns" until now. She clicks on "Content Management" and when she doesn't see the pattern she needs, she opens but doesn't use "Filter by Category" at first. She then chooses Category->Profile Management and Status->Draft and finds nothing. She then changes Status-> Done and still finds nothing (there are no patterns in this category). User goes to front page and chooses "All Patterns" but again sees there are no "Profile Management" category patterns. She then goes to "Create a Pattern" and reads through the tabs. Skims the "How to write a Pattern page" and says she usually doesn't resort to "how to's" like this--she'll try to figure it it herself first before she reads them. When asked, user says if this were a real life situation she'd probably give up at this point.	(tabbed) Though user had briefly looked at "How to Write a Pattern" page, she doesn't go back as she's entering the pattern. Pattern entered: My Profile. Generally she doesn't enter much content in any of the fields throughout the process of entering patterns. In this first pattern, she enters required fields only: Title, Design Problem, Category, Solution, Image, Solution Image Source ("desktop"), How, Rationale. User enters title and category and tries to Preview right away. When she receives errors she says, "I should fill in all required." User submits again on the Problem tab. Goes to Solution tab, then Examples. Comments, "this Publishing Actions box is a bit confusing. If I click Submit I see errors. It should be clicked after I submit the whole thing, not each section." Goes to last tab and submits. User publishes and skims pattern. Other remarks: - did not click the "upload" button when specifying images.	(tabbed) On her own she moves to the next task without being asked. "I want to try to change my design pattern." Viewing her pattern, she clicks on one of the "Edit" buttons in the Related section which takes her directly to that tab. She adds "List Builder" as a related pattern, and says she expected this to change the images for the pattern--presumably to add the List Builder image as an example for her pattern. User comments that she usually starts by adding only required info in a form, then changing options. She also says she doesn't usually read the "how to" guide. Remarks that she usually just confronts the application to solve it herself
User 2	"Curious to see what's in here now...I don't know if pager is in here, but it's come up so I'm browsing patterns, content management, forms IO sounds promising, maybe navigation. Let's try information org, there is a search." (but she didn't use it.) "I don't think pager is in there." Goes to navigation and then sees Pagination. User had been at All Hands discussion of Pager and seen it on the wiki. "I wanted to see what's in here and if it's as complete as what's in the wiki right now. Is it complete or is it a subset? Maybe I have to log on to get more info."	(single page) User goes right to "Create Pattern.""It's not clear whether I should be logging in, I think I might but you haven't supplied me with a login." Sees message on front page that she needs to register to create a pattern and does so. Uses "Create" link from main content area. Says "I'm not sure if I should create a pattern or how to write a pattern first and I assume I can toggle between the two." "I'm thinking of (creating a pattern for) watching an audio recording happening, but don't see a category for that. Am I allowed to create categories? I'm kind of stuck a bit, I can't ignore it. I have to choose one. Maybe I can choose (a wrong) one and change it later." Enters title "Recording audio response" and says "I wonder ho descriptive it has to be." Entered tags and hit the "working" indicator on that field -- seemed to be thinking it was a refresh. Easily finds her name in contributors. Enters design problem, and comments, "is there a specific way I should be writing this?" She opens "how to create a design pattern" in a new tab and wonders if she'd opened it in the same tab if she would have lost the information she'd already entered into her form. [I tested and using the back button, she keeps most fields but does lose auto-complete fields.] User carefully reads "how to create a design pattern," and says, "I would like a brief description of the expectation of how the problem is worded on the form itself, a pop-up or something." User then enters info from "How to create a design pattern" directly into design pattern entry form's Solution field. Says, "I really hope there is an opportunity to get feedback...did I include enough detail, do I really understand what these elements are meant to do, but I'll give it a shot." Finally sees solution image under solution and realizes "Solution" field isn't supposed to contain everything. User wonders how the example images are different from the solution image. User reads Open Examples Guide quickly and thinks she needs to make sure she has permission to use someone else's work. Think "Example Image Source" may mean that you could link directly to an example on the web (it should be just the URL of the uploaded image). In "Relationships" the URL field is too wide for the page. User looks for info on how design patterns and components relate on "How to write a design pattern" but can't find it and says "I need a definition of what a component is and what it means in relation to the pattern." User understands References section. User is a bit confused by "Publishing Actions" section and says, "I'm assuming I can come back to this at anytime...this is a draft submit." Once uploaded a large image and it didn't show up with no error given. Another time, received an error message after attempting to upload a large JPG (9MB) "warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /usr/webserver/content/osdpl/patterns/drupal-5.12/sites/default/modules/imagefield/imagefield.module on line 850. Solution Image is required. Please upload an image." which she found confusing--didn't know what it meant (wonders if it was too big, it had to have certain dimensions or if there needed to be a certain naming convention). Tried one more upload and got the same message again. After talking about it, user does realize that solution image source isn't a link to an outside image, but a caption for the uploaded image. User suggests that perhaps she could have used keywords instead of categories.	(single page) Without prompting, user says "I want to see if the pattern I was trying to describe is in there" and searches on "audio" but gets no results. Thinks maybe it's not there because she forgot to use audio in pattern text and just keywords. Goes to advanced search and thinks it's "cool" but that tags/keywords isn't something she can search on. Enters audio in "any of the words" and then sees there are no results on "audio audio."
User 3	User thinks about an issue he has with flashcards on a smartphone. Would like a "2 column thing" to move them back and forth. Looks at Browse Patterns and comments, "I don't know how much is there." "Content Management & Forms are different so I'll guess content management." User is unsure what Information Organization is. User was very focused in this task about what the design pattern library told him about components -- seemed at first to think the design patterns were the same as the components. However, at the end of this task when asked about the relationship between design patterns and components (which is a somewhat leading question) he says, "I think it's close, but wouldn't assume there is a connection." He looks at the Uploader pattern to see if he could use the Fluid Uploader, and when he sees the drag and drop patterns he says, "So this is the Reorderer stuff." User fairly quickly realized List Ordering & Layout Preview were children of Drag & Drop. Wonders if a reorderer may help him move things between two bins. User comments that "Use When" (especially showing there is a downside to using a pattern) is helpful in determining whether he would need LO or LP D&D. - not sure what each category is and what content is in each. - After finding a pattern by category, remarks that it doesn't feel there necessarily be a coupling between Fluid components and the patterns on the osdpl.	(tabbed) Generally: - Error messages and required fields confused the user right from the start. - Fills everything in rather than risking hitting the submit button again. This indicated a lack of confidence in system or perhaps lack of clarity on the error? - keeps scrolling back to the top to check error messages. Unclear whether or not user thinks they are new errors or old ones. - User remarks on the tantalizing submit button on every page. But even if the submit button isn't there, you would worry about when you can submit. Begin Task: - Went to "How to Write a design pattern" FAQ first. - then after reading it, decided to "dive right in" and clicked the "Create" pattern link in the center of the front page. - got Access Denied error and was thrown off by the title of the error. - Initially wasn't sure how to correct this, but slowly read the error message and decided to sign up for an account. (not sure how many users will actually do this). - not sure if he will need to check his email as part of the registration process: but then said: "I guess we'll cross that bridge if we need to" "Info Tab" - When seeing the Contributor field, said: "naughty naughty. you should know who I am...I shouldn't have to say!" - Button scope problem: "those buttons only look like they're referring to the current information, but they actually refer to the whole smash." - Says, "What would preview mean...not sure so I'll Submit." - "Filter cache cleared" status message appeared after clicking submit for the first time. - Sees Submit button again and says, "Oh, I don't want to do that again!" because he knows that despite the appearance of the button on the tab, it's really not time to submit yet. - Remarks: once making the Submit error once, he knew not to click Submit again until errors are fixed. "Solution Tab" - Browsed for an image and selected "OK". Then lingered over the "upload" button, as if pondering. Did not click it. - Then read "Image Sources" and understood it for attribution (unlike User #2 who interpreted it as a synonym to a hyperlink). - then reads instructions and clicks Upload. - Went to the next field and started typing: "why is it showing up in red?" -- doesn't realize it's one of the errors from a previous submit. - Remarked that it felt like an awkward transition from getting hung up on uploading images and then going back to top level fields. -- could we combine Solution image and Example image upload fields and attribution etc into a single page? -User thinks the description of "How" below "How" applies to "Rationale," partially because the input fields are so big and the text above appears visually to go with the box below. He puts "Pros" in "Rationale" and seems unsure what it means. - User realizes at this point that the red boxes show fields that are required. "Examples Tab" - doesn't realize that Examples are optional, but now entering them. - Skips over the "Upload" button initially. Doesn't understand why you would want to Upload an image. -- this implies that user is assuming that Submit should send it? - Uploads an image. Now understands why you would want to upload an image. - Remarks that it is pretty common that Alt text and title to be the same. Possibly combine it. - "Alt text isn't required tsk tsk!" Wonders whether alt text and title should be the same, and says it seems common for them to be the same. - When to submit is confusing: "don't know if I can submit yet, have to come back to the top...maybe Submit isn't there if I haven't filled in the right stuff." "Accessiblity Tab" - User isn't sure how the instructions around Accessibility Concerns relate. "Relationships Tab" - User looks for related design pattern in the Yahoo DP library - User has to go back to the top of the page to see where he is in the process. Comments, it still says "Submit UI Design Pattern...I'd say maybe it's Create." - "Since I was saving it as a draft, maybe I'd like to save it without all the required fields."	(tabbed) (think this task was skipped)

User Number	Task 4 - Create a Design Pattern (other form)	Task 5 - Edit your Design Pattern (other form)	Task 6 - Find your Design Pattern	General comments
User 1	(single page) Pattern entered: new Layout Preview. Creates a Layout Preview Pattern. Enters required fields only again. This time she reads "Solution Image Sources" text more closely and enters "igoogle.com." User wonders where the tabs are and we explain they are not part of this form. After submitting pattern she appears confused by solution image, thinking it's an actual rich text editor and tries clicking on it. Other remarks: - did not click the "upload" button when specifying images.	(single page) This task was skipped.	Does this task before #4 & #5. Goes to View/Edit My Patterns. Wonders if this is the only way to see her pattern, so she searches on "My Profile" and gets no results. Comments that she just saw top-rated patterns and wants to see what others have done. Looks at Drag & Drop List Ordering and then to Drag & Drop Layout Preview as it was linked within the text of D&D-LO.	wasn't sure that "Browse patterns" would give a list of examples. "Contribute" isn't clear. Maybe just "create a pattern" instead. "Browse pattern" - not sure if the position is good. When hovering over Browse pattern she was expecting to get a tooltip. Suggests to indicate on the main page to indicate clearly that the Browse pattern menu is the collection of patterns on the site. Category name "Form" is ambiguous. "Editing and making a design pattern is easier than I thought because the process is simple and I can find the ways to find the design patterns easily.
User 2	(Tabbed) User thought she should be the only contributor at first, then realizes it's anyone who contributed to the pattern. Wonders, "should I be forced? What if I didn't select myself, would I be listed as a contributor just because I authored it?" About the form: "one thing I find surprising is that I have to scroll up (to move to the next tab). Maybe there should be a "continue" button or tabs at the bottom?" User realizes that red fields are required. User wants to be able to submit after she's filled in just the required fields, saying, "I could have tried to submit after solution because I think that was the last red one (required item), but I wasn't really sure I could submit at that point because the first two tabs had set me up to think I couldn't." "I'd expect that I could start and then if I put in enough info so that I could find it at a later date that would be enough. It depends on how long of a stretch of time it was. I need to get a sense of everything that is required I think." "I don't think I'd write this up in one sitting. I'd put it up here and if I was working with a colleague they could come in and edit it somewhat." "I kind of like the fact that it's broken up into tabs in some ways." To make when she can submit more clear, she says, "initially I thought perhaps you could put all the required fields in one tab, but that breaks down the problem & solution tabs."	(Tabbed) User is discouraged from earlier problems with search and says, "hopefully I can find it!" Unsuccessfully searches on audio recording. Then says, "Maybe I'd look at 'Recently Updated'." User was confused that it didn't appear to truly display the most recently updated patterns. Pretty quickly finds and goes to "View/Edit My Patterns" where she finds her pattern. Is confused by the auto-complete, asking, "why is there a circle in the "Synonyms" field? User adds two contributors and doesn't realize she lost herself when she did that until she Previews. User comments that it's a bit strange that the form is displayed again underneath the preview, saying, "I'd expect to be able to submit or continue editing." User thinks changing pattern status from Draft to Done publishes it (which isn't enough--she'd also have to check "Published.")	Says, "Since I saved it as a draft I wouldn't expect it to be publicly displayed to all visitors. I would expect when I save something as a draft I expect that's something only I can see. I thought I could see it because I've logged in as myself. I am wondering if there is yet another status where it's only viewable by me. That may change what I was say about pre-setup. I want it to be pretty complete before I submit it and there's nothing where I can think about it. It's actually exactly what happens on confluence though...when I submit a page everyone in my group could see it. I don't want this to be published, I want to be able to actively say that this is ready to be seen. Or at least if it says draft it's only viewable by people in the community and not everyone that's not logged in." Suggests that upon submitting it might allow her to email (e.g. her fellow contributors) people saying it's ready. "If this is a draft, I'd expect the people I listed as contributors to be able to see it, but not everyone on the list. What if they're not on the contributor's list? On the confirmation screen it would be nice to tell me whose colleagues are being emailed and I could add an additional email address which would ask them to join or set up an account, like GoogleDocs."
User 3	(single page) Looks for the "Create a Pattern" link a bit before seeing it in left nav. User is asked to not take too much time on the pattern, and he says he will only fill in required fields. "Huh, so Solution Image is required--that's a bit unexpected. I'm not real sure sure I need to upload it." After filling in other required fields, he scrolls down and submits. Says he likes the this version of the form better because he doesn't like to have to determine whether to submit every time (tab). "If Submit isn't there I'm worrying about when and how I'd submit."	(single page) n/a - went directly to View/Edit My Patterns - A little worried about "Delete" at the bottom - maybe would like to see "Re-submit" and "Cancel" instead. - not sure what the visibility is for his pattern. Can everyone see it? "I said it was a draft--it isn't telling me the status. It doesn't say in the form what it means to be a draft."	"I wouldn't assume that my View would be different than what the public would see." Finds his pattern in the Content Management category and says it looks right.

Informal Testing Notes

This was a sort of cognitive walk-through of the process of adding a pattern with one user. It was more informal, and did not follow the protocol used with the other users above.

While Editing a pattern, user clicked Delete button thinking it would delete an image. Not clear how to delete an image
Thinks that ranking is the only way to interact with the site
Felt that "Draft" was clear in meaning and thinking that you get to "Done" state by getting comments from others.
Felt that it wasn't clear how his pattern is promoted. Do people get emailed? Perhaps it just goes into a bucket? What does promoted mean?
- Suggests system could prompt "People have been informed about this pattern" on submission, or give more options / control as to how it is promoted.
Was looking for a category but wasn't there. Suggests a way for people to input / recommend categories, or a catch-all category.
User felt that it wasn't clear how the social process works.
Recommends a "New Patterns" category under the navigation.
The site description states: "Create, Collaborate, Share" but there is only indication of "Creating".
- Implying missing representation of Collaboration and Sharing components. (give users a way to accomplish these goals).
Suggests stronger visual cues that a social process is going on.
- i.e. metrics. "How many patterns have been published", "How many have been revised" etc.

Potential Design Improvements (based on testing)

Entry Form

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

FLUID-1092 FLUID-1969Label the Delete button more clearly to indicate scope / consequence & make sure it's next to the other buttons that take major action on a design pattern (e.g. Submit), but it should not be the first button.

FLUID-1884 BUG: The URL on Related Patterns is too long and runs into the right margin. - URGENT

FLUID-1880 BUG: Error when uploading a very large image to a pattern:

"warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /usr/webserver/content/osdpl/patterns/drupal-5.12/sites/default/modules/imagefield/imagefield.module on line 850. Solution Image is required. Please upload an image."

Future Improvements

FLUID-2092 Think about whether there is a more descriptive label for examples, e.g. something like "As seen on" but even more descriptive.
FLUID-2093 Ensure instructions formatted the same way throughout the form, and are clearly grouped with their data element. (Consider not using modules that put constraints on formatting.)
FLUID-2094 Multi-select fields such as contributor can be confusing in terms of being able to make sure all the proper contributors are selected. Since Contributors also use user names instead of real names, convert the field to display the user full name, both in the form, and in the pattern display. (We need to keep it tied to the user ID so that we can give contributors special rights at some point.)
FLUID-2095 Add an example of good "Alt text." As it should always be used in our context when describing an example, we don't need to make it optional.

FLUID-2096 Content management and forms are very similar category names -- consider choosing one or the other and possibly developing a new category. (Considering doing card sort to validate or come up with new categories.)
FLUID-2097 Add a Cancel button to the form.
FLUID-1956 Move "Synonyms" and "Keywords/tags" to the top of the pattern in display mode.
FLUID-2098 Errors at the top of the page but make them hyperlinks to the places in the form where the errors are.

Done

FLUID-1931 Improve error message: Include info on which tab each error is on, along with a link to the proper tab or field. - URGENT
Make it clear in the form what fields must be modified to publish a pattern (e.g. "Viewable by Everyone" & "Draft-Done").
Fix the link in the long form...it still says "Contributor's Guide."- Not an issue since this form is not for production.
Change red asterix for required fields to red "[Required]" or make sure that there is information at the top of every tab saying what the asterix is. - added "Required" text to field titles.
FLUID-1092 Disclose that large images will be re-sized. If possible add this info to the cryptic error message below.
FLUID-1092 Upload button is not obvious - doesn't convey what happens when clicking: does it submit the form or just upload an image? Does my form data save itself so I don't have re-enter everything? – can't change this, we're restricted by the ImageField module on CCK. JH
FLUID-1092 improve "Image Sources description" / label to something more appropriate - as of 12/7 improvements have been made but might be able to improve further
Improve wording on Solution Image & Description to explain that the solution image should be an illustration of the description. - URGENT
FLUID-1885 Add contextual help to pattern entry form, which is connected to the "How to Write a Pattern" content. - DONE
Remove "Preview" and "Submit" buttons from all but last tab of tabbed pattern entry form if we decide to keep this form.
- alternative? Move button to end of tabs or into a dedicated "Finish" tab. When editing, put button on every page and hide "Finish" tab.
- Larger question: if we go with a single page form, this won't be a problem any more.
Done Missing an "uncategorized" category to catch patterns not belonging to a predefined category. Also consider a "recommend a category" function so users can suggest their own categories.
The use of the word "Solution Description" / "How" / etc. for both the fieldgroup and the field label in the form is ambiguous and should be changed. - Changed styling for distinctiveness.

Probably Not Going to Do

visually bind errors to applicable fields to help improve workflow. Put errors inline.
- This scatters error messages across tabs and potentially confuses the user.
better organization of Solution and Example image upload sections for better flow / usability
- Alternative: Put all the image upload fields in one tab, and all the other fields in another. A 2 tab design?
- If we did this, I'm wondering if we could make examples a separate content type and solve the issues with not being able to group the fields properly when there are multiple images? However, users may miss the second tab unless there is a "Next" button on the first tab. Though there would be ways around some of the issues (e.g. make the button "Next" only if the required fields on the second tab have been entered) this isn't ideal for editing mode, however. - We need to think about whether this is users true workflow and will not make this change at this time.
improve flow / transition for uploading images and entering data for a pattern. Ideas:
- 1. eliminate example images and have only solution images and allow the user to flag the image they want as the thumbnail image. Otherwise pick the first image as a solution image. My first thought is that the solution image should be distinct from the Examples, but let's talk about the pluses & minuses of this one.
- 2. move solution and example image upload, attribution, and description fields into a single page (thus creating a new tab). I don't think this will work, as I think it will be important to have solution image and solution on the same tab so the user can make sure the image relates to the solution description and the solution describes the image. - LOW PRIORITY
Edit links:
- It's a bit weird that there are only Edit buttons when the user views their pattern for fields they haven't entered. Some of the empty fields at the bottom (e.g. Synonyms) still don't have an edit button which is confusing. May be best to have Edit buttons for everything, or only one edit button at the top.
- Edit link for fields could be a bit disorienting as it links to a form with all fields to be edited (even if the anchor jumps to the correct spot in the form). After making that transition, the user has to think what it is they want to do as the context has changed.
- Discussion: should link to page with just that field being edited, and add a "Show all fields" function while editing just 1 field? Then augment with "Edit this whole pattern" links if allowing just editing of 1 field.
- RecommendationRemove all Edit links and have just a single edit link at the top. To reduce clutter, empty fields should not be displayed. Possibly another at the bottom to avoid scrolling. - URGENT

Navigation and Interface:

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

FLUID-776 Determine why searches don't bring up patterns in a particular category if a word in the category is searched on (e.g. search on "profile" doesn't bring up patterns in the "Profile Management" category). Test to see if this is a problem with tags as well, and fix the problem in general. A potential work-around if this isn't a problem with tags would be to enter the category for each pattern as a tag as well.
- Set up a cron job to re-index the library every time a pattern or other content is added or edited.
- Search has been removed because it wasn't working.
FLUID-2078 Does 'recently updated' include only published patterns? How does it choose them? Will users be confused if patterns they update aren't populated there immediately? (One user was slightly when she looked for her pattern there in user testing.) - may be a JIRA for this one
FLUID-2085 Change "View/Edit My Design patterns" so that it is sorted in descending order.
FLUID-2086 General comment: the names of the links in the navigation should almost always match the titles of the page. This allows users to verify that they have arrived at the right place. The one exception may be when you want a short link and a slightly longer title for the page, but this should be avoided if possible. "View/Edit My Design Patterns" page title should be changed.

Future Improvements

In the search, if a user enters a term in the simple search and one in the advanced search (e.g. in the "any of the words" field) then it shows both words in the "enter your keywords" field on the results. Is the advanced search so broken it's not worth making available. Also, advanced search shows all content types and that should probably be limited.
Reduce mysteriousness of categories
- FLUID-1805 Count category contents in navigation - LOW
- FLUID-1893 tooltip mouseover description of category
FLIUD-1895 put more tooltips in navigable elements / interactive groups and divs
FLUID-1883 merge login / register into the same page

FLUID-1897 tweak registration process:
- disclose that registration process is easy (no need to check email). i.e. "Registration is easy and takes 10 seconds!"
- privacy statement for collected emails.

Done

FLUID-1879 Remove categories with no patterns from "Filter by Category" list.
- Remove "filter by category" filter for all views except "Browse all Patterns"
Not clear how Draft / Done Status filter works. Do we even want this right now?
- if we remove the draft/done filter, do we even want the filter options at all? Is it confusing?
- Remove the Status filter for now, and consider reimplementing if it makes sense when community process is finalized.
Done, changed to "Browse All Patterns" Unclear what "Browse patterns" is? For the sake of parallelism, I'd prefer to see it as just "All Patterns" as the other options are just nouns, not verbs - DONE
Done, changed to "Input Forms Category name "Form" is ambiguous.

Community Process:

This section raises the issues encountered during User Testing. For specifics on new community features that will help address these problems, please see this more current document: OSDPL roadmap (Jan. - Mar. '09), planned pattern workflow, and features

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

better functionality and communication of the community process:
- what happens before and after submission of a pattern - URGENT
- implement new features that encourage / reinforce the community process (collaboration and sharing).
- give users options to share and control visibility of their pattern
- Consider allowing users to submit incomplete patterns that are viewable only by them as sort of a "working document." Make it clear that it's OK to come back later to finish. May need an if statement that makes different fields required for "Draft" vs. "Done" patterns.(perhaps this is a 'future feature')

Future Improvements

self-serve tools that help users get their patterns noticed: - LOW
- a HTML snippet they can paste into emails or other sites.
- specify emails of people they want to notify
- send invitations to contacts to join the site
- subscribe to updates via emails
- Consider allowing pattern authors to notify people (e.g. fellow contributors) via email upon submit when the pattern is ready for review.(perhaps this is a 'future feature')
- Consider allowing pattern authors to invite people who do not already have accounts on the system via email to be contributors. (perhaps this is a 'future feature')
- Consider giving contributors listed by the author special editing rights on a pattern. Could potentially create temp accounts for people not yet in the system.(perhaps this is a 'future feature')

Probably Not Going to Do

- displaying metrics (e.g. number of comments posted, how many revisions) can help too.

Documentation / Communication:

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

FLUID-2087 better interface or documentation of how to add / delete images in a pattern
FLUID-2088 display a quick OSDPL primer to be displayed after successful registration: describing top 3 or 4 features, one or two sentences each.

Future Improvements

FLUID-2089 add information on how fluid components and patterns relate in "How to create a design pattern" and possibly "Design pattern FAQ."
- Create a diagram to illustrate the relationship between Fluid components, design patterns, tutorials, springboards, UX Toolkit; consider creating a more abstract non-Fluid version

Probably Not Going to Do

add information to "how to create a design pattern" about which fields are required. - We may not need to do this now that we have contextual help in the form.

Front page:

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

FLUID-1899 Add emphasis to collaboration and sharing aspects throughout site, especially on main page.
FLUID-1898 "New Patterns" view to see the latest happenings on the OSDPL (already done, just needs to be in place).
FLUID-2090 Consider adding a more visual description of a pattern to the front page of the library (like UC Berkeley's Web Patterns Library)
FLUID-2091 Remove "Welcome to OSDPL" line, replace it with the description of what the OSDPL is, reduce what is a design pattern is so everything moves up a bit.
FLUID-1894 Better linkage to examples from front page content and "What is a design pattern" - but try not to make the front page too wordy.
FLUID-1894 feature categories better on front page.

Done

clearer demarcation of News section - add header

Project Direction

Determine whether we'd like to reach out more to our "totally new to patterns" audience. Perhaps add links from the main content area of the home page for this. E.g. "New to design patterns? Check out the Design Pattern FAQ."
Decide which form to keep: tabbed or single page?

Other Bugs:

Immediate Improvements / Tasks

FLUID-1913 BUG: tag cloud displaying unpublished patterns. - URGENT
FLUID-1912 BUG: "Filter cache cleared" status message appears after hitting Submit for the first time.

Next Broad Steps

In no particular order...

- make improvements to the front page to better convey content, content structure / categorization, and community process.

- investigate content navigation and improve. Draw from successful navigation and categorization schemes or do card sorting.

- determine a better way to do image uploads that is more usable and fit seamlessly into the authoring workflow. - LOW

- decide on which input form to use and refine as necessary with above fixes.

- improve content browsing through front page, content browsers, and sidebar navigation.

Jonathan's Random Notes

- rename "Contributor" to "Authoring Credits" or "Pattern Authors"?
- "Upload" button woes - not much we can do about it. It's hard coded into Drupal Core.
- OSDPL patterns / Fluid component relationships - need to discuss on list?
- Remove required fields except the title? Makes it easier to make revisions and less pressure to fill out everything in one sitting (reduces barrier to entry, but increases amount of work for later sessions). Maybe in draft view only
- Augment documentation for Solution vs. Example images. Answer "what's the difference?"

- Concern: duplicate labels in Solutions tab. The Fieldgroup has the same label as the label for the field. Is this confusing?
- Should keep the label directly preceding the field because it is needed for accessibility by using the <label for="..."> element + for attribute.

- Link examples to (the right place in) the FAQ. (Use anchor tags.)

- Not clear where the pattern goes after submission. Perhaps redirect to the Browse pattern page for that category and show their pattern in the results? We need to redirect or give a signpost showing where they are, where their pattern is, and where they can go next.

- Fix upload error bug... ARGH!!!

- Tabbed shortcomings:

1. Submit on every page
- Move "Publishing Actions" to it's own tab.
- Adds yet another tab
- but clarifies that there's only one submit for the whole activity.
- Labels: Finish, Submit...

2. Error messages not clear
- Move error messages so they are in context with the field that has an error. (Can this be done? Hopefully!)
- Add to the error message something like: "Fix the error, and submit the pattern again."

3. Not an easy way to move from one tab to the next when you're at the bottom

- Add a "Continue" button that moves the user to the next tab, or put the tabs at the bottom too. If we could figure out a good way to do this visually, tabs may be better as it would give the user quick access to submit.

4. Can't see all the information to be inputted at once.

- However, the converse advantage is that the user can more easily see all the *categories* of information to be inputted in the tabs, without having to scroll through the whole form.

- Will people be worried about going from tab to tab to look at information on previous tabs, thinking they may lose what they entered?

5. You get errors for all the tabs no matter what tab you're on and you're popped back to the first tab after you submit.