Category / Usability

by Aaron

IE9 Beta, pinned web sites

As you’ve probably heard – IE9 beta 1 is available for download.

As part of the new feature set, it includes web site pinning.

So, I pinned Twitter.

I had read about it, and watched it demo – and still couldn’t figure out how to do it without hitting the web site above (as the drag to tab method doesn’t look like it will work until you try it – and the screen shots on the web don’t match what I was experiencing).

What I heard was that pinning would make the web application front and center.

SNAGHTML1f2ecd

There’s still too much browser though when launching the web site through the pinned icon.

image

It’s trying to remain a browser window, but also play an “application.” What about providing an option in the meta msapplication-task for being able to control the browser “chrome?” Hide tabs, hide address bar, etc? (Just hide them, don’t make them unavailable). 

<meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=New Tweet; action-uri=http://twitter.com/home; icon-uri=images/ie/tweet.ico" />
  <meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Direct Messages; action-uri=http://twitter.com/inbox; icon-uri=images/ie/dm.ico" />
  <meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Mentions ; action-uri=http://twitter.com/replies; icon-uri=images/ie/mentions.ico" />
  <meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Favorites; action-uri=http://twitter.com/favorites; icon-uri=images/ie/fav.ico" />
  <meta name="msapplication-task" content="name=Search; action-uri=http://search.twitter.com; icon-uri=images/ie/search.ico" />
<script type="text/javascript">

I like where Microsoft is headed with IE9 and the merging of web pages into web applications.

by Aaron

User Experience Failure: “Please check the Log For More Information.”

Asking your users, especially new users, to check a “log” for more information about a problem, especially an installation problem, is like slapping them in the face. Why do developers do it?

I understand that there are unexpected problems with software. But, asking an end user to look at the file is putting the burden of doing software support on them, rather than the software producer. Sure, there are some basic things a user might troubleshoot.

If so, put them in the UI. Not in some crappy log file they’ll need to sift through. Expose the errors as actions and things to try.

Here’s a great example of this going wrong; it is a double slap in this case:

image

The image says:

“Hi, we have released an update to Seesmic Desktop 2. Version 1.0.0.1296. Release Date: 9/9/2010.”

 

“The application could not be updated. Please check the log for more information.”

Dang, bad on two accounts:

  1. They’re asking me to look at a log to try to troubleshoot a problem with their software. It’s not likely to be helpful, otherwise they should have surfaced the information directly into the UI.
  2. It doesn’t tell me where the log file might be located.

I took a different approach to solving the problem. I right clicked on the application, and this menu was shown:

image

I selected Remove this application.

As I was curious about the new version, I went to http://d.seesmic.com/sdp/install.html and selected to start the installation. Seesmic Desktop 2 worked. Many users aren’t that patient.

As developers and user experience designers, etc., we can do better.

by Aaron

From the Department of Uselessness

How many comments are there when one of the comments has been removed?

In this instance, apparently the count was 2.

SNAGHTML1ed5e447

If a second comment was not a reply to a first comment (which from the structure of the UI, I don’t believe it was), why indicate “this comment has been removed” and include it in the count? 

Aye. Programmers. Can’t live with them. Can’t live without them.

by Aaron

Prudential User Experience Fail

I was updating my life insurance beneficiaries (for insurance provided by my employer) and I had just added my wife as a primary beneficiary and then indicated that I wanted to add another. I must be a total screw up:

You have recently updated your beneficiary details. Please wait one day to perform one more transaction.

Uh – I’m allowed one “transaction” per day? I guess that’s one way to make a scalable web system and not overload the database system too much.

by Aaron

I’m feeling very unlucky today

Oh, please Google, stop, for the love of search, make it stop!

image

I can’t see an option to remove the background image and switch back to the default. I tried replacing it with a tiny transparent image, but I was denied …, as it requires an image at least 800×600. So, I tried a white 800×600 image:

image

Weak though. I liked the fact that the image was tiny (around 600 bytes), but it’s too washed out. Apparently, Google doesn’t have an algorithm that can make a smart decision about text contrast and the photo being used. Too bad.

So, I tried a black image:

image

Not too bad. Passable.

I’d prefer however an option to switch back to the simple white background. The default background image today is absolutely awful (IMHO). I’m sure I’m not the only person this morning shocked by the change.

This option is such a tease:

image

As it just removes an image you selected, and switches back to the default image. :-P

If you’d like the black background I use as a temporary fix…, just click on the black rectangle below, which should open the original file. Right click on that and “save as” to your desktop.

black800x600

Today, I will start using Bing more. I like the way they do background images. Hand picked. Not too large. Easy to read text…

image