AUI Usability Testing: Icons

The goal of this paper prototyping test was to determine whether testers would understand the meaning of two new icons for the AUI task bar: xterm and logout. Along the way we also collected information on other AUI icons. We had five versions of the xterm icon and two for logout. We wanted to know which ones were most quickly and accurately readable.

For this test we prepared five paper mockups of the AUI task bar. Each bar was printed at the bottom of a sheet of white paper. At the top of the paper was the sentence: Tell me what you see. (To open the full size version of this graphic, see athenasketches.GIF)

We presented the sheet with the first task bar to six different people with a variety of Athena experience, from none to a lot.

Table 1 shows whether or not the testers could recognize the icon (Yes/No), what they said the icon meant, and in blue, the observer's comments.

Icon	Yes	No	What do you think it means?
gnome-foot	5	1	Start menu The arrow must mean it opens Don't know what this is Bigger menu, different tasks Choose path thru. Start menu
Netscape	6		Launch Netscape
Evolution		6	It's a word processor? It's a word processor? An office suite? Path showing where you came from? Versions of documents? Text editor or word processor (She was pretty convinced that Evolution had to be a text editor or word processor of some kinds. This was partially because she said the icon strongly resembled the MS Works icon, the word processing program she used growing up. She did not notice the envelope part of the icon until I told her later Evolution was a mail reader.)
XTerm	5	1	Open new xterm window Open new xterm window Open new xterm window ??? terminal emulator for something Xterm
Nautilus		6	status? A painting or drawing program? graphics? ocean or workout equipment exercise equipment I have no idea what Nautilus is (I asked her to think a bit more about what Nautilus could be, and she guessed that it might be a graphics program, because it had the word "eazel" on it. She was quite surprised to hear it was a file manager.)
Out	3	3	sending email or something to the printer? Wouldn't be sure what this did without seeing Logout underneath Not sure without legend -- are these roll-overs? Exit more intuitive than Out Logout logout button

Preferred the #4 XTerm icon and thought Exit would be more meaningful.

"Looks like a Task bar. Icons must be frequently used applications. Button bar shows open applications. Arrows probably expand the bar in either direction."
Likes the red X, but thinks for a completely new person #5 would be better. Not sure the either Out or Exit really says logout.

Exit makes more sense although I'm not sure what exactly will happen. The red x graphic the best -- for Athena users. Why can't the icons be on the desktop? Can they be turned off?

"It's a navigation or a tool bar. Icons look like they might be things a the top of your computer screen that are open" (Mac user, talking about Application Manager) "Arrows could mean you can scroll left or right. Maybe it's like the Control Panel for the whole computer -- see it has a logout button."
Tester didn't know what xterm is. I told her what happens and then asked her to select the icon that best represented that action. "xterm icons all look like monitors. The x makes it look like you're shutting something down or closing something out. I think #5."

Tester #5 is not an Athena user either, but liked the red-x and if not that #5. We spoke about Out and Exit. She didn't think either did the job. Suggested Cancel, but that really generally means don't do anything. Logout is probably best.

After they told us about what they saw, we then showed the other four task bars and asked them to speak specifically about the XTerm and Logout icons.

We were particularly interested in two icons: the five versions of the xterm icon and the two versions of a logout icon. Incidentally, we discovered that no one recognized the Evolution icon as email or the Nautilus (Eazel) icon as a file manager. (See Table 2)

Table 2 below shows how each respondant reacted to the various xterm icons. 1 means that the icon was recognized and that the tester expressed a preferrence for it.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
XTerm Red X	1	1	1	0	1	1	5
XTerm Gray X	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
XTerm Windows	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
XTerm Perspective	1	1	0	0	1	1	4

The table below represents the views of the testers on the Logout button icons.

Based on these interviews, we are make the following recommendations.

To the PSB designers:

XTerm icon with red X and the perspective icon seemed the most recognizable to our testers. Because of the association of a red X with delete in other applications, including Eudora email and Leash32, we recommend further development and use of the perspective icon.

Although we really like the Exit sign, there seems to be some difficulty with it as well as the Out button. We would like to see a Logout button that, if possible, contains the Exit motif.

To developers of Evolution Email:

We hope you will try some more readable icon for your software. Perhaps an envelope with preceded by an "e-" or a mailbox. The complexity of the current icon is universally unclear. (One tester identified the icon as "some kind of specialized word processing program for writing letters," but was unable to make the leap to email.)

To developers of Eazel's Nautilus:

See comments above. Testers were not able to make a convincing guess as to what this icon was. The "clue," Eazel, led them further astray into thinking selecting this icon would launch a graphics program.

In talking-protocol testing, however, when asked to open a file manager, so far all testers have responded correctly. Not because they understood the icon, but because it had a visible label beneath it. We suppose that in time people will learn to recognize the icon, just as the Netscape icon is instantly recognized and understood, but would rather something more intuitive.