Firefox developer sets up usability panel

US-- Mozilla Labs, maker of the open source web browser Firefox, is setting up a new usability testing programme based on a panel representing 1% of the Firefox user base.

Mozilla's Aza Raskin wrote in a blog post: “There are hundreds of questions… whose answers would help quantitatively inform the design process of Firefox. At the moment, as evidenced in discussions, we generally only have access to studies, anecdotes, first principles, early-adopter feedback, and ad-hoc experiments… As Labs scales to having hundreds of projects, we'll need a way for any researcher to ask usability questions, and get meaningful answers back quickly.”

The ‘Test Pilot' programme is designed to operate a platform through which any of Mozilla Labs' products can be put through usability tests, including its open source email client Thunderbird.

Mozilla offered privacy assurances for participants in the project, saying: “We'll only collect aggregate anonymised data, publish all results under open-content licences, and review every test to make sure your privacy is held sacred.”

Firefox is the second most popular browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and has increased its usage share from less than 4% to 21% in the last four years.

Author: Robert Bain