Once has to wonder when you see Matt’s blog post announcing that WordPress is looking for users in New York to take part in usability testing of WordPress why they didn’t do this before releasing 2.5? It is painfully obvious that they – and us by extension – would have benefited far more from this if it had happened during the development cycle rather than months after it was released.
In general I give the new user interface a C+, but there are certain areas of it that get an F, which is why I give it an overall grade of C+. Widget editing and administration get an F, as does the media section. I’ve had few problems with the new media section, but that is not the case for some (I’d like to see the numbers). Using Flash for the media library can, when everything goes just right, be a great thing, but everything I’ve read indicates it is quite possibly Flash uploaders can be more of a pain than they are worth. All the posts in the .org and .com forums on image uploading and insertion problems attested to that. Certainly it appears as though WordPress has made strides in ferreting out the bugs in 2.5 since its introduction, but one can’t help but think that there had been a longer beta testing period, with more varied users, that some of the issues may not have made it through and into the release.
I must say though, that the old saying, “better late than never” comes to mind. Hopefully there will be improvements in the interface and better overall stability when 2.6 comes out.
The Sacred Path
May 21, 2008 at 11:35 am
There was testing before 2.5! We’re just doing some new stuff, and also a different type of testing (this one with lasers, no kidding).
Uploads went up 20-30% on WP.com after the new interface was introduced.
May 23, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hi Rich,
What a great idea [sarcasm]. Testing with prizes but only available to those bloggers who live in or near New York.
Jun 9, 2008 at 1:27 pm
hey i would love to join in on the Usability testing i am in Putnam ny about 30 min form NYC let me know whats up as far i like the new version of word press
Jun 9, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Brian, the testing is over by now.
Jun 11, 2008 at 9:17 am
Matt, I am a WP EVANGELIST, but uploads have probably gone DOWN 20-30% on my blog network because of the errors and bugs. Please, please, fix it.
Jun 24, 2008 at 10:17 am
Matt, I can only assume from the evidence (all the problems people were facing after the release/upgrade) that the testing done before the release/upgrade was less than thorough. The image uploader was broken right out of the box, and don’t give me the line of lame excuses about it being a problem with ISP’s or the user’s computer, or their browser, or that they didn’t have the latest version of flash, or whatever. Thorough testing would have uncovered all the issues, and they should have been addressed prior to it being released/foisted upon the WordPress.com community.
Jul 6, 2008 at 4:09 pm
the core part of the new flash image uploader is a third-party software. just as well as TMCE. for the record, I can’t see any significant issues with it. I think that’s exactly because it’s made on flash, in contrary to the JS based TMCE.
negative user experience was probably caused by the integration issues and the (historically) poor UI and architectural design flaws in general.
> Thorough testing would have uncovered all the issues, and they should have been addressed prior to it being released/foisted upon the WordPress.com community.
there was a testing before release indeed. it was conducted by the volunteers at wp-testers list. too thorough testing would have severely delayed the release, though. what do you think .com community is for then (besides generating a content for placing ads)?