Gaia/UxContributing

The UX Team for Firefox OS appreciates contributions from interaction and visual designers, usability practitioners and engineers. This page contains ideas for contributions, links to helpful resources, and step-by-step instructions on how to share your contribution.

UX Areas for Contribution

This section describes important areas for improvement that would greatly improve the product right now. Please feel free to contribute in areas beyond these.

Usability Reviews of Apps

• Summary: To find specific problems ailing a specific Firefox OS app (such as email, calendar, settings and so on) or part of the OS (such as keyboard or notifications) and recommend specific improvements.
• A usability review (AKA heuristic analysis) is an evaluation of a user interface against established usability best practices and heuristics by a trained usability professional. Please pick an app and review it. We'll gladly file the bugs for these issues to follow up on (they'll end up in the UX Papercuts lists below).

Papercuts

• Summary: There are various little things that make it difficult for a Firefox OS phone to be a daily-use phone. The little things add up to big experience. The name "papercuts" is in reference to the term "death by a thousand cuts."
• Meta bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=949551

98 Total; 0 Open (0%); 93 Resolved (94.9%); 5 Verified (5.1%);

Additional UX Contributions

• Wallpapers
  • Goal: We're looking for illustrative images for our backgrounds that reflect Mozilla's brand.
• Contact form redesign
  • Goal: Propose an updated contact form based on our patterns, to fix usability issues.
• Sounds
  • Goal: The UX team commonly get requests for new sounds. We'd love to "hear" what the community has to pitch in.
• Content for empty states
  • Goal: To have sample content users can view/play with when they use some of the media apps for the first time. Would be nice to have sample content for Music, Video, and Galleries/Photos.
• Ideas for Popular Services and Features
  • Goal: To identify popular services and features the community uses. We'd love to know which services and features the community use frequently and work on getting them to provide content for Firefox OS.
• Visual Styling and Layout issues
  • Goal: To have the styling and layout consistence across the OS- if you find an inconsistency, document it! Refer to the building blocks for guidelines on solutions.

Process

When your contribution is ready, please submit it via Bugzilla following the steps below.

• First, create a new bug in Bugzilla. Choose New > Firefox OS.
  • You must create a Bugzilla account in order to do this.
• Then, complete the following fields in the new bug (ignore the rest). A bug will not make it into our queue if these fields are not completed:
  • Summary: Describe your submission (for example, "Usability Review of Email App").
  • Description: Write a description of your proposal and your rationale.
  • Attachment: Attach any specs or related documentation you may have prepared, such as a ZIP file, PDF or PNG screenshots, preferably using the Keynotopia stencil we link to below (uses Keynote).
  • Product: Firefox OS
  • Component: Gaia or, if you evaluated a specific aspect of Firefox OS, like the Email app, choose "Gaia::Email".
  • Flags: Set a needinfo? flag to "firefoxos-ux-bugzilla@mozilla.com".
• Click the "Submit Bug" button.
• The UX team reviews contribution bugs once per month and will provide feedback in the bug.

UX Template

• Adobe Illustrator Wireframe Stencil for Firefox OS: https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia-specs
• Firefox OS Specs by release: https://mozilla.box.com/s/44utizl9oz4eupyu3fuu
  • This Box folder is Open Access: no Box account or login should be required.
• Visual Style Guide: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/styleguide/products/firefox-os/

How do I obtain a Firefox OS device for evaluation?

The [Firefox OS Flame reference device https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/02/23/new-developer-hardware-and-tools-show-firefox-os-ecosystem-momentum-2/] will be released in mid April 2014, which will make devices much easier to obtain. The ZTE Open Firefox OS device is also available on eBay for purchase but is not a Firefox OS reference device.

Until the Flame ships, the fastest way to get a sense of the product is to use the Firefox OS Simulator and App Manager:

• Firefox OS Simulator: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Firefox_OS_Simulator
• Firefox OS App Manager: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/10/introducing-the-firefox-os-app-manager/