Okular User Research Profile

Okular is a document viewer. It allows people to read documents in the most common formats, and provides some aids to the reading.

Who is the application for?

List of types (groups) of users

User groups can be organized based on any type of dimension

Some groups may be broken down in to sub groups

"Occasional" users, who just need to read a document (for example, linked in a web page, or received via email)
Users who read many documents, that want to track what they read either by "bookmarking" the document, or adding notes
Researchers/reviewers, who may perform many annotations for a document, or perhaps a few related documents.

(Who is the application not for)

Sometimes it is easy to identify who the application is not for

This can help keep the scope of the project under control

Sample User Profiles

User Profile 1: For each group of users identified (or primary groups, or particularly special groups if many groups are defined), write a description of that user's characteristics based on a real user you know.

Mike

Mike is an 28 years old engineering student, currently involved in his PhD.

His research field makes him read lots of documents, that he receives from his professors or find them on the Internet.

What kinds of tasks will they complete

List of common tasks users will complete

This does not have to be a complete functional specification, but major tasks and specialty tasks should be listed

Include functionality that is planned but not yet implemented to help keep the future in focus

Read a document
Fullscreen display of the document (e.g., as presentation)
Really basic document editing:
- fill the form fields
- add annotations on the document
Print the current document

What kinds of functionality will the application not support

Document editing:
- page addition/removals/reordering/permanent rotation/etc
Better image viewing than a toy image backend (any image viewer will do the job)
Document collection management (ala digiKam, Amarok, etc)

Sample Use Scenarios and Cases

Use Scenario 1: For each task identified (or major tasks, or particularly special tasks if many tasks are defined), write a description of how that user would accomplish the task independent of how they would complete it within the application.

Use Case 1: If a use scenario has been implemented, include a matching use case which describes how the task use scenario can be completed in the application. There may be branching or multiple ways to complete the task, and this is a good way to document it.

Environment Conditions & Requirements

List of environmental conditions for the user or the application to consider

For example, an Internet-capable application would require an Internet connection