[wp-hackers] Usability Expert Review

[Gabriel White]

Hi Jeff,

I've put my comments below.

> Some pretty good suggestions. However, "Rename the 'Post slug' box." 
> doesn't jive with me. I would say that falls under "learning" curve. 
> There is not going to be a concise phrase that will accurately describe 
> what that bit of text does to a new user.

I can see that. If there's no better alternative, then leave it as is.

> "While the visual design and presentation of WordPress is
> excellent, the use of color has not been maximized."

> I'm kinda in line with this, but I might also suggest that if menus were 
> restructured, that *icons* were used as well. I like little 'notepads' 
> next to the 'new post' button, or a 'checkbox' next to 'options'. The 
> visual clues of icons are much quicker to pick out than text.

Icons are great when used carefully and sparingly. That could be very useful.

> "Include a photo gallery feature in the default installation to
> allow novice users to publish their photos easily."

> No. This a blog. No a photoblog. Not a gallery. If anything the "Upload" 
> section could do with a better file browser so that people could upload 
> images, browse through, pick one, copy/paste the url for it.

I can understand why you might say that, but the question is not so
much about what WP "is" in any conceptual sense, but rather how people
actually use it (it is for this exact same reason PowerPoint has an
in-built org-chart making feature because that's what a lot of people
actually use the software for).

And if you're looking to ease the newbie use curve, then inbuilt photo
publishing would be a really useful feature for those users given what
novices typically do with the software. Advanced users could just
uninstall it.

Everyone's happy.

> "When listing posts, the post ID is the first column in the
> table. This is not very useful information to help users
> scan the table. Show the name of the post in the first
> column of the table."

> But don't take the post-id away, I do actually use that as a reference 
> once in a while.

Definitely agree on that one.

Cheers,

Gabe