Posts tagged in ‘Usability’

When Marketing take over interaction designPosted on September 28, 2008

Sigh. I have seen screens like this way too often, but right now I am tired, sick and cranky and figured Carsguide need a bit of public shaming.

Hey Carsguide - as much as I’d love to enter the location and hit the search button, you decided that it would be a better idea to [...]

Tags: Usability

The most unhelpful help on the internetPosted on September 21, 2008

I know it’s a big call (there’s a lot of garbage out there) but I think I’ve just found the most useless help page on the entire internet.
I just bought the Darth Vader theme ringtone (so I can tell when my parents are calling), and the website confirmed all was ok. It was going [...]

Tags: Usability

Just tell me when Falls Festival is…Posted on August 13, 2008

I am a big fan of Flash when it is used correctly and wisely, just like everything else. JavaScript, Lightbox, Adobe AIR, even Comic-sans can be used in ways that often improve the user experience rather than being a roadblock preventing it.
But it usually doesn’t work out this way. I know great Flash developers out [...]

Tags: Design, Information Architecture, Usability

Nokia has the worst customer experiencePosted on August 7, 2008

I am so angry with Nokia at the moment - I now own an $800 brick that I can only throw in the bin.
I have a Nokia N73 that I’ve owned for 14 months (yes it’s 2 months out of warranty). Note I am still paying off the stupid thing as I took a [...]

Tags: Design, Marketing, Usability

Government and airport collaborate to become even more uselessPosted on July 31, 2008

Wired have just announced a proposal from the Australian Government to search music devices for pirated music when you travel through the airport.
This has so many levels of stupid I’m struggling to even pick my top gripes with it but I’ll try.

It already takes three hours to get through customs, etc because the [...]

Tags: Usability, random thoughts

286 ways to delete a tag in DeliciousPosted on

Delicious has finally redesigned it’s website with the re-branded, non-dotted name that we have all known over the last few years.
A good decision in my eyes as I always found it hard to remember where the dots went in the name and for long term growth and findability in these E-less, web 2.0 times it [...]

Tags: Design, Usability

Online Quotes - Why Bother?Posted on July 23, 2008

For some reason over the last week I have been doing a lot of searching online for stuff that is complicated and needs a lot of info or numbers to add up before they can give me a price, or even a ballpark estimate.
Today it’s a green slip for my motorbike which is due in [...]

Tags: Information Architecture, Usability

I hate microsoft I hate microsoft I hate microsoftPosted on June 30, 2008

There is not enough space in the headline for the pure hatred I am harbouring towards Microsoft at the moment. I am trying to download a trial copy of Project. It has taken me 52 minutes and about 2993 clicks so far. Each page they taunt me with a “just click the download button”, which [...]

Tags: Usability

Why clear labelling is importantPosted on June 26, 2008

I’ve just tried to unsubscribe from a mailing list I’ve started receiving but never subscribed to.
This is the screen I get.

Well I’m trying to cancel being on the list… and no I don’t want to delete this request.
It’s bad enough I ended up on their list when I didn’t subscribe but why [...]

Tags: Usability

Usability of cutlery - Qantas 0 points.Posted on January 23, 2008

Peter Moore (one of my favourite travel writers) has just written a funny piece for the Guardian on the cutlery his kid received on a recent Qantas flight.

Apparently they were designed by the Wiggles, who should probably stick with singing and dancing and forget about the cutlery/furniture design arena.
As Peter says, the serrated [...]

Tags: Usability