by Jeremy Kirk

Novell aids open source desktop designers

news
Oct 12, 20051 min

Novell will release its research to help developers know what appeals to users

Novell announced Wednesday it will release its research on desktop software designs to help open-source developers know what is appealing to end-users.

The move, part of the company’s Better Desktop initiative under its openSuse project, will help open-source designers build better applications and further promote the adoption of the Linux OS on desktops, the company said in a press release. Most developers lack the resources to conduct user research, Novell said.

Novell used people who were familiar with Windows but had never heard of Linux and asked them to perform basic tasks using a Linux desktop. The analysis and video footage, which includes information on menus, screen layouts, dialogue boxes, icons, and colors, will be available at betterdesktop.opensuse.org, Novell said.