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phaseII
In this phase, our team focused on improving the Arch Vim platform based on what we learned from Phase I, along with cognitive walkthroughs and feedback from other students. The main goal was to see if users can actually learn Vim through this interface and how well the features help teach the basics. We mainly looked at where users get confused, especially when it comes to navigation, switching modes, and completing tasks. From there, we used those insights to make the design more clear and easier to use for beginners.
To do this, we used a few different research methods. The main one was a cognitive walkthrough, where four people went through the system step-by-step using specific personas and scenarios. They looked at things like whether the user would know what to do next, if they could tell they were making progress, and if the system gave enough feedback. From these walkthroughs, we saw that users could usually start the environment and open files, but they had trouble figuring out things like how to enter insert mode or how to save and exit since commands like :wq aren’t obvious for beginners. In other cases, users could log in and move around the interface, but once they got into more advanced actions, there wasn’t enough guidance, which made them feel stuck or unsure. A big issue across multiple walkthroughs was that users didn’t always know if they were doing something correctly because the system didn’t clearly show feedback.
We also did a competitive analysis of three different Vim learning tools to see what they do well and where they fall short. This helped us understand what’s missing and what we could do better in our design. On top of that, we got informal feedback from a classroom demo with other software engineering students. We asked them about how easy the system was to use, how clear the instructions were, and how confident they felt using it. This gave us a better idea of how real users think and what they expect.
From all of this, we found some common problems. Even though users could handle simple tasks like logging in or starting the program, they struggled a lot more with actual Vim interactions. One of the biggest issues was that users didn’t always know what to do next, which shows that the system doesn’t guide them well enough. For example, many beginners didn’t know how to enter insert mode or use commands, which slowed them down and made things frustrating. Another big problem was that the system didn’t give enough feedback, so users couldn’t tell if their actions worked or not. We also noticed that users who weren’t familiar with Vim had a hard time understanding how to move around because instructions weren’t always clear.
Based on these findings, it’s clear that the biggest problem with learning Vim isn’t just that it’s hard, but that it’s not taught in a very beginner-friendly way. Most users struggle with understanding modes, using commands in real situations, and building muscle memory. Without clear instructions and feedback, they get frustrated quickly. To fix this, the design needs to focus more on helping users step-by-step. This includes things like showing what mode the user is in, giving clear feedback when they do something, and guiding them through tasks instead of expecting them to figure everything out. It should also feel like a safe place to practice where users aren’t afraid of making mistakes. These ideas directly influenced how we updated our wireframes, especially by making navigation clearer and improving the overall flow.
There are also some limitations to our research. We only had a small number of people doing the cognitive walkthroughs, so the results might not apply to everyone. Some of us are also beginners, which might have affected what issues we noticed. We also mainly focused on beginner users, so this doesn’t really show how more advanced users would interact with it. In the future, it would be helpful to test with more people and with a more finished version of the product.