Meet Test Pilot in Firefox 4 Beta
Friday, July 16, 2010 9:56Meet Test Pilot in Firefox 4 Beta
We are excited to announce that Test Pilot will closely support the soon to be released Firefox 4 beta, playing an important role in the development of the next generation of Firefox through a new Add-On called “Feedback.” With this bundled Add-On, beta testers will be asked to participate in user interface studies, and that data will be collected and analyzed by the Test Pilot program.
Since we rolled out the first Test Pilot study last September, many participants have joined the Test Pilot program. With the help of the broader community, participation has grown from 5,000 to over 12,000 submissions to date, completing six integral studies.
The Account and Password study, the Tab Switch study, the Menu Item Usage study and the Main Window Usage study have all provided important insights for the Firefox UX and product teams. With Firefox 4 on its way, the Test Pilot team will monitor, analyze and work to better understand the variety of user behaviors and needs resulting from the new user interface and features throughout the complete Firefox 4 beta development cycle.
The Feedback Add-On
Firefox 4 Beta will include an Add-On called “Feedback”, which is a channel that allows users to input free-form comments and join the structured user studies as part of the Test Pilot program. This Feedback Add-On is being customized for use in Firefox 4 Beta – and future betas. With the “Feedback” Add-On (see the tentative UI below) in the yet to be released Firefox 4 Beta, everyone can contribute and make Firefox better.
As always, security and privacy are priorities when Mozilla is dealing with user data. All privacy settings that the Test Pilot program has developed to give users control over their data will remain the same in the Feedback Add-On. These include:
•Participants’ data will be transmitted to Mozilla only when they take all of the following actions:
* Join the Firefox 4 Beta program by downloading the beta with the Feedback Add-On.
* Submit data when the test is finished. Participants will be able to review all the data before choosing whether or not to submit it.
•Test data will be stored anonymously and in aggregate. None of it will be publicly associated with any personally identifiable information about the participant.
•Participants can quit a Test Pilot study before they submit any test data.
•Participants can opt-out from all user studies or disable the entire Feedback Add-On at any time.
Read More: http://mozillalabs.com/testpilot/2010/07/01/test-pilot-fx4beta/
