Installation issues

"During the installation the installer asks where to set-up the directory. This should look to see where the OS is located, since one of the test systems that I ran this on does not have a C drive and it seems that it was hard coded to go to the C drive."

"If the software relies on MS Office being installed, the installation program should have made sure that I had MS Office installed, and notified me if it was missing and needed. You never want your software to crash on the user’s system - they may not be willing to contact you and ask why it happened. Most of them will simply uninstall and move on to the next piece of software. "

Usability

"After enduring the long and tedious initial setup for the software I was finally presented with the main interface. At this point, I had to ask myself what to do next. With all the handholding through the setup process, I was surprised that there was nothing that popped up to tell me what to do next, other than reach for the help file."

"XXX is really not particularly easy to work out. You need the step-by-step guide to be able to use the software at all. In my opinion, this can only hurt the success of your software. Most people will only want to look to the help file for specific information – they don’t want to have to read it just to work out how to use the software."

Interface and product design

"While using the software, I moved the main form around the screen. Whenever I selected a sub dialog such as "XXXXX", it would appear partly off screen. On many of the dialogs there seemed to be no consistency as to where they would appear. Some would appear off screen and others would appear at the bottom of the screen. The dialogs should never appear off the screen."

"I feel that the "XXXXX" screen does not follow the standard windows interface logic. I found this dialog to be confusing. It is as if you were trying to include too much information in one single screen. When I clicked on the button "Add" I entered a "XXXXX name" and a "XXXXX description", then I clicked on "Add" again. All the info was erased. I now understand that I should have clicked on "Save" but this is simply not clear enough when you have so many buttons on the screen to choose from. This also makes it look rather sloppy."

Features and implementation

"When I create a folder and enter the name of the folder, there is no indication that I am also selecting that folder. In my case, I wanted to create three folders but when I created the second one, the software automatically made it a sub-folder of the first. There should be a better way of showing where the folder will be created "

"Every time I right-click on the system tray icon a menu pops up. This is ok and expected. The problem is that if I then choose not to click on a menu item from the system tray, and click away on the desktop or some other application, the menu simply does not go away. It stays visible at all times. If I am not mistaken you need to use the “SetForegroundWindow” API call right before you open the Popup menu."

Help file

"The F1 key is not 100% properly utilized. If you are on the main form and you click on the F1 key, you are take right to the help section that explains the main form. This is not the case for all other dialogs. In some cases it does not work at all, and in others you are taken to the wrong place in the help file. For example, from the "Confirm Clean" form, if I go and press F1 I am taken to the "General tab". When I am on the "General tab", and I press F1, it does not even work."

"You really need a more detailed Quick Start or tutorial. Also, even though it says in the system minimum requirements that the minimum screen resolution is 800 * 600, all the "Online Demos" are much bigger than that, making it impossible to watch them at 800 * 600"

Recommendations

"On the main interface when the user hovers the mouse over items such as the "XXXXX" combo box, there should be a tool tip that explains what the field is for, with some sort of example data in it. I think this should apply to all the fields that are displayed on the main form as well as for those that are user defined."

"Shorten the initial setup process. It might be better to get the user into the program interface first, and only then ask them to go through the process of setting it up."