https://blogs.gnome.org/shell-dev/2021/02/15/shell-ux-changes-the-research/
A TLDR of what research was done.
Asked Red Hat Desktop team employees about how they use Gnome 3. No info on the number of respondents.
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The search was often used to launch apps. App grid wasn’t commonly used.
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People changed the contents of the dash
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Some almost never used workspaces
Additional surveys to Red hat Desktop team employees. Seems to be a sample size of 42
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Most users have 6 ~ 8 windows opened at a time
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Most users only use 1 workspace
Research with Endless. Around 20 users. Users tried Gnome 3.38, then early Gnome40 prototypes, or Endless OS. exact details about the tests and results were not shared.
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Existing gnome users were generally had positive reactions to the changes.
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Non-Gnome users liked EndlessOS since it has a similar look and feel to Windows.
More testing with 10 Endless users. No details are provided.
- Users were engaged when using workspaces in the Gnome prototype
A Diary study was conducted to see long-term issues. A total of 5 participants(or at least 5 conducted experiments) used the UI for a week.
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Users were happy with the design and had no issues.
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Most didn’t have issues with multi-monitor setups.
Final: Actual user feedback from the community. AKA, the addition of workspaces preview window in Gnome 40.