Pat’s Point of View

I’m a big fan of Wordpress, the content management system I use for this blog, and I like the changes that have been introduced since version 2.0 including the admin interface. There are clearly many people who disagree, but I’m liking the direction the admin interface is taking.

The Wordpress team are currently in the process of redesigning this interface for the next version (2.7) and as is becoming quite popular these days, they are opening some of the process to the public and even enlisting their huge user-base in the design process. The latest output of this process has been a set of wireframes. Wireframes are a tricky thing, and everyone does them differently based on the needs of the project. I would have done some things differently to the Wordpress 2.7 wireframes, but overall they look reasonable.

However, I was quite surprised that a survey was used to “give WordPress users the ability to play a part in deciding how the navigation options should be grouped and labeled”. This doesn’t sound like a job for a survey. Unfortunately I caught onto this only after that survey had closed and so I don’t know what sort of questions were asked. Was it collecting feedback on the current navigation? Was it asking for design ideas? Or was it something more like online card sorting?

The first survey was followed by another survey intended to “take your opinions regarding: Where to put the search box, Where to put the Add New Post button/favorites menu, How to label the Future Publish/Edit Timestamp function”. I missed this survey as well, but again it sounds like a survey wasn’t an appropriate method to use. I fear this was a glorious example of design by committee.

It seems they got 5000 responses to the second survey, in a matter of days, so it’s likely there at least as many for the first survey too. That’s a pretty good sample size and would be great for learning more about the audience. What troubles me is the team’s apparent reliance on the surveys as a major input into the design. Were there other methods used, such as usability testing, interviews, analytics, workflow analysis? I hope so.

Getting input from users is commendable, but a better approach to a similar challenge is Leisa Reichelt’s work on the Drupal.org redesign. Lisa also had massive online participation from the user-base, but used a variety of methods to research requirements, needs and preferences. The key difference is the appropriateness of each technique to the information intended to be gathered. A survey was used “to get in touch with people who are willing to help us out with some more structured feedback once we start getting into the design phase” rather than to elicit design preferences. Participatory design or collaborative design shouldn’t be done via survey.

But, of course this criticism could be completely unfounded, as I haven’t seen the survey questions. And perhaps I’m totally jaded by the big surveys I’ve seen being used inappropriately in the past. So, if you completed either of the Wordpress surveys, let me know what kind of questions were asked by leaving a comment below.

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