User Experience Fail

whitespace is overrated “submit order,”...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:37:00 -0400

whitespace is overrated

“submit order,” “cancel everything,” same difference. how hard can it be to click one and not the other when you’re not paying attention? the button and link are like, 4 whole pixels apart, or something. 4 pixels might as well be the freakin grand canyon if you have any sort of mouse precision at all. loser.

hope you liked “where’s waldo,” because this...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:33:00 -0400

hope you liked “where’s waldo,” because this is a whole lot worse

ya, this actually happened. picking a date from a list of every possible date from now until the end of time is way easier than just typing one in or choosing a month / year separately.

why stop there? let’s do this with credit card numbers too. just have a drop-down that has every permutation of credit card numbers, and i’ll just find the one that’s on my card.

“why? because fuck you, that’s why.”
- the internet

hi, i’m eclipse! looks like you want to create a...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:25:05 -0400

hi, i’m eclipse! looks like you want to create a project!

first, let’s give it a name. something FUN, like “Java blows!”

next, you’ll pick a location. choose carefully, because moving it later will totally suck.

ok, all set? oh, wait, you know what? i bet you’ll want some javascript libraries. you can do that just by clicking here!

*click*

did i forget to mention clicking that cancels the entire create project process?

SURPRISE!

hi, i’m eclipse! looks like you want to create a project!

ya, put the ‘ok’ in the middle, and the...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:19:49 -0400

ya, put the ‘ok’ in the middle, and the ‘cancel’ button on the far right. that’s great. it’s like a game! where will the ok button be this time? i mean, everyone knows predictability is boring — this is how you add spice to user experience.

good one, eclipse. keep ‘em guessin’.

i AM at home you twits. im directly connected to your f’n...

Fri, 28 May 2010 03:30:42 -0400

i AM at home you twits. im directly connected to your f’n cable box.

oh, and by the way? thanks for not allowing me to use my personal email when i registered for your crappy online payment system and forcing me to use that flacid @comcast email that i don’t/will never remember.

now i have to call your outsourced service center, spend 15 minutes on hold and waste everyone’s time/money.

in fact, i’m gonna call in tomorrow and put YOU on hold. ill be sure to play creed as the wait music.

!@#$

i don’t know how i managed to open adobe’s media...

Fri, 28 May 2010 03:24:00 -0400

i don’t know how i managed to open adobe’s media player, but i did. at first i was annoyed (partially because it’s a video player and it somehow has a f’n splash screen that reads my preferences for 15 seconds), but, given that i’ve recently become interested in learning a bit of after effects, i decided to poke around. i clicked a video that was a feature tour of after effects (one of those promo-type videos) right off the home page, and, wait for it, the player failed to play the video because the format was “unsupported by the adobe media player.”

so, let me get this straight: adobe’s custom media player, designed to play adobe media, was unable to play a video promoted by adobe on their homepage, which featured CONTENT SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO SHOW HOW AWESOME ADOBE IS.

your stupid proprietary player can’t play the content you created to promote your products. staggering. you lose at everything.

gee, thanks for the options. it’s like sophie’s...

Mon, 17 May 2010 12:12:00 -0400

gee, thanks for the options. it’s like sophie’s choice, but more depressing.

merlin: Everything…and “More?” This strikes me as a really...

Sat, 15 May 2010 13:46:48 -0400

merlin:

Everything…and “More?”

This strikes me as a really weird UI decision.

tiny controls + tiny icons + terrible guides + meaningless icons...

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:34:36 -0400

tiny controls + tiny icons + terrible guides + meaningless icons + horrific use of white space + mixed metaphors + inconsistent interaction methods + no real innovations + SUPER FLASHY WERE-SO-AWESOME-VIDEO = epic. fail.

why do i have to basically shut down my freaking computer to...

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:40:50 -0400

why do i have to basically shut down my freaking computer to update flash? only the super tech-savvy would know how to shutdown the dashboard client.

misf …. misfil … misfild?! .. D?! is that a d? and...

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:25:13 -0500

misf …. misfil … misfild?! .. D?! is that a d? and what’s after that? is that even a letter?

misfildjfaljr;falsn;klas ;ndfarn

find the download button.

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:15:08 -0500

find the download button.

just. everything is wrong here. start over.

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:00:18 -0500

just. everything is wrong here. start over.

comedy central redefines tag clouds. new definition:...

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:54:00 -0500

comedy central redefines tag clouds. new definition: fail.

there’s not even a reason to post what a decent tag cloud should look like because pretty much anything would be better. it’s not rocket science. here:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/07/tag-clouds-gallery-examples-and-good-practices/

another ‘links are the basis of the internet, use...

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:32:00 -0500

another ‘links are the basis of the internet, use them’ fail

oh, sweet, looks like google has a to-do list now. oh, there’s a nice image of what it looks like, and a description. i’d like to try it. how do i do it?

oh, it’s totally easy, just click the tiny “labs tab” link beneath the thing you are interested in, scroll through a list of 5 bajillion options and look for the names of the two features you want to turn on. if you can’t remember the names, just click back and write them down! simple!

OR, a just do this simple 10 minute fix.

Clearly an afterthought Ok, there are very few things right...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:32:00 -0500

Clearly an afterthought

Ok, there are very few things right about this dialog. Given that it’s this dialog results in a full backup, update, and potential loss of data, it’s kind of a big deal.

1. What happens if I select “Don’t ask me again” and then click “Cancel”? Am I confirming that I don’t want to be asked again, or canceling that decision?

2. Action-conflation aside, I actually like the “Download and install” and “Download only” options, but why stop there? “Cancel” should at least be renamed something like “Do nothing” or “Don’t do anything.”

3. The buttons, however, don’t answer the question being asked. “Would you like to download and install it now?” requires a Yes/No response. Not only would this tap into the Yes/No or Ok/Cancel conventions we’ve grown accustomed to, it’s an easy fix. “Yes, install the update” and “No, don’t install the update.”

4. Come to think of it, why is “Download only” the default action, let alone even an option? It’s definitely a power-user option, so why is it presented here? If I’m a power user, I don’t need a pop-up to help me; it hurts non-power-users, and clutters the decision path.

this backup application is optimistic to a fault man,...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:11:00 -0500

this backup application is optimistic to a fault

man, i’ve heard so much about this back-up-all-my-data-to-the-cloud thing. to start, i’ll just back up some of my data, since i don’t want the backups to take too long. let’s see, how about 45GB? that sounds reasonable. off we go!

*comes back an hour later*

ah, well, that’s unfortunate. so, 0% transferred, 0 of 0MB encrypted (with about 00:00:00 hours remaining), and the whole job should be finished in … where is it … oh, right.

17261 hours.

sweet, it’ll be done in just over two years.

i’m sure there’s nothing wrong - no need to alert the user. carry on.

washing machine do i want a normal wash? or do i want a normal-...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:59:22 -0500

washing machine

do i want a normal wash? or do i want a normal- wash? maybe i want permanent press with the normal+ setting?

just how much math should this laundry cycle include?

i know, i’ll use the EXTRA DRY WASH cycle. that’ll be like dry-cleaning, right?

brand-spankin’ new california academy of sciences...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:57:00 -0500

brand-spankin’ new california academy of sciences musem

these medium-sized terminals are all over the gigantic, bustling aquarium. the right side of the display automatically rotates information, capturing your attention and inviting you to explore more about the wondrous creatures you’re watching. it’s actually decently designed, except for one little issue …

they’re not interactive.

at all.

another winner from virgin america RED the arrows scroll one...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:45:00 -0500

another winner from virgin america RED

the arrows scroll one line at a time (out of hundreds), cannot be held down, you cannot tap on the actual scroll bar (to mimic a page down) and you can’t drag the scroll bar.

epic.