Usability testing of various functions - cockpit-project/cockpit GitHub Wiki

Method

  • Test items: Cockpit - storage volumes, network bonding, services, storage RAID, identity domains
  • Method: Moderated remote usability test via BlueJeans ~ 1 hour
  • 21 Participants: all external (11 Windows Server Admins, 10 Linux Server Admins)
  • Researcher: Sara Chizari
  • Notes: Andreas Nilsson

Research Goal

  • Understand potential usability issues with different sections of Cockpit UI

Task overview

  • Identify and install security updates
  • Create, format, mount and grow a logical volume
  • Create a network bond
  • Create and mount a RAID device of 20 GiB
  • Activate httpd service and set it to launch on boot
  • Join a domain

Recommendations

  • Use more plain english within the interface. There were many instances of Linux terminology that did not have a clear Windows analog. Explanatory text would have been helpful in these situations.
  • Get nouns and verbs closer together.
  • Users easily miss what they just create. The interface needs subtle change cues to help users notice changes they make. Issue 10059
  • The error messages are not informative. Use errors to guide users on how they can solve the issue.
  • Table items seem like plain data and not clickable. If contents/items are interactive, make them look clickable/ expandable/ interactive.

Summary of the observed usability issues

Software Updates:

Storage:

Network

Services:

Domains: