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Usability Sins 2.0  (View post)

/pd [PersonRank 10]

Monday, February 13, 2006
18 years ago

lets talk about gmail and groups.. why should log off and then on again to switch between groups and gmail.. eh ?

mining of data created by Users: I need to digg/flickr/technorati and what not and also being retuend with different results....

I wont even begin the Identity managmenet crisis that is looming ahead of the curve for a sins 2.0 version :)-

JayNick [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Netflix has some usability problems. I recently signed up for Netflix and I wanted the 7-at-a-time rental plan. When you are a new member you get a two week free trial automatically. The maximum you can take out during a two week free trial is 3-at-a-time. I thought to myself, "Okay then I don't want a free trial I will just start paying for the full membership." Unfortunately there is no way around the free trial. How absurd! Why would Netflix want to limit a user like myself who wants to start paying immediately to have a better plan? They lost out of about $25.00 in revenue from me; I can't be the only user that would have bypassed the free trial.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I agree with pd that Google's multiple-accounts problem is the worst of the lot.

A big usability sin is committed by Nationwide Building Society (UK). When I've finished managing my account, I click "Log out". A few seconds later (usually after I've moved to another tab) Nationwide loads another screen asking whether or not I want to print a transaction log before I log out.

Dammit, when I click "Log out", I mean "Log out"!

dpneal [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

i don't need to log off and then on again to switch between groups and gmail. what is the problem when you try /pd ?

Eddie [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

This is a "self plug" I know- but it's still ontopic...

My riff on riffs.com: http://my.opera.com/usability/blog/show.dml/66217

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

/pd: I'm with dpneal. I had to login to both groups and gmail the first time, but both have remembered me without problems when I go from one to the other. I would recommend logging out of both and deleting any cookies and then logging into both, and see if that fixes your problem.

Robert Gale [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I always get the same problem with Technorati. It's ok when you are searching on a blog with just a few links but as the inbound links increase it's almost impossible to get any results.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Niraj/ Dpneal : ..ok ...ok then I must be mis communitcating..

all I have)gmail) as a proper nagivate links looks this
<mailme[put at-character here]gmail.com | New features! | Settings | Help | Sign out>

when In gmail there is no link to Groups and neither the other way around.. .groups->gmail. yes I can open multiple windows and not a problem.. but I am being serviced under one brandname -so please link all services in one page so that swithing back and forth is good experince...

David Sifry [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Hm, you shouldn't be seeing those Sorry... screens very often anymore. May I ask what searches you were doing when you saw the problems? Either the URL of the SERP or the search terms would be great, it'll help us get to any lingering performance issues as quickly as possible.

You can reach me at dsifry AT technorati DOT com or at 415 846-0232, I'm a big fan of Google Blogoscoped, so if there's anything that I or Technroati can do to help fix things up, we definitely want to know about it!

Dave

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Oh hello Dave while at it... heres some handy stuff you might want to look into too at the same time

http://www.kbcafe.com/rss/?guid=20060210121429

Brian M. [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

The biggest Web 2.0 usability mistake is an Ajax "Loading..." or equivalent message that requires a server-side event before it will update. In fact, it may be a mistake to revoke the browser's built in timeout, because this is a preference users can set. Particularly when the application is broken until a signal from the server is received.

A javascript solution is to create a wrapper around your XMLHttpRequest object that is triggered by various things, pertinently the _lack_ of a signal. This will generate a helpful error message for the user without the need of the server. But it's best to leave it up to the browser if the entire interface can potentially break.

Google is the worst violator I have seen.

mjc [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Downloading attachments in Gmail breaks expected "Save link as..." behaviour – instead you get a file called "Download.html".
And clicking the Download button opens a new window, which is irritating. Why can't it just bring up a download dialogue like a normal link?

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

/pd: That makes sense. In fact, the "Search Web" button is strange there as well. What if you want to search images? There should be the row of links across the top of the search box like there is on their search pages, to allow you to easily switch between services/searches as you are saying.

Search Engines Web.com [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

For the DIGG concern – here is a great tip.....

just click on the COMMENT link under the Thread – you will instantly go to the area where an entire HTML page is dedicated to that specific Topic

Also, you can click on any user name and click on the "Comment link" from their lists of their Contributions

http://digg.com/users/SearchEngines/homepage

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

> May I ask what searches you were doing when you saw the problems?

Lately, it was for ["sketch swap"], [sketch swap] and [sketchswap]... but this wasn't the first time I was experiencing the speed problems or Sorry pages.

I gotta say you guys have some of the best support, always checking blogs for constructive criticism. Keep it up.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Yes, Technorati has a great team and had workers..but they just cant keep up with scalablity factor... there are entres/post of of mine that are not indexed

heres the search... on technoratiies

http://www.technorati.com/search/MVP?from=peterdawson.typepad.com

and heres my posting of feb 02/
http://peterdawson.typepad.com/blog/2006/02/mvp_summit_.html

Caleb E [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

It isn't really practical to keep all links to all google's services on the tops of pages...it would be way too cluttered. and you don't have to sign out to get into groups, you could just type it in the address bar.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Caleb : but it does not open another tab or window..

So I still say have my list of services.. drop down list-alphnumerica sorted.. simple..

SamD [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Google's problem with integartion is a big one. You want a link to your Groups in your Gmail. I don't. I don't use Groups. A Reader link would be good for me though. Or an Adsense or Analytics. I am convinced that the key to better integration is the imporvement of the Google Acounts page.

Come on at the moment the Google Account Page (when you are logged in) is ugly and useless.

Miel [PersonRank 4]

18 years ago #

Technorati Ranking hasn't updated in weeks for me. :(
I also sent a note via the contact form, even gotten a reply (automated). But it's still the same.

Mark Draughn [PersonRank 5]

18 years ago #

I just wish some of these social and portal sites would start supporting multiple logged-in identities. I have three basic email addresses: my address at my consulting business, my blogging address, and my personal address for my friends and private business. My mail user agent has no problem sending and receiving mail on all three addresses, according to my needs.

Why can't gmail do that? Why can't Google Talk or MSN Messenger allow me to chat under several identities at the same time, so if I'm hard at work I can disable my social identity while remaining available to my clients? I can't even run multiple instances of the desktop apps, and to run multiple instances of gmail I have to use different browsers. It's pretty frustrating.

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Mark, I think I have a solution for the gmail multiple accounts problem you have. In your gmail account you can click on settings, then click accounts. There, you can hit "add another email address" and it will send an email to that address to verify it's yours. When that's done, you should get a dropdown when you are sending emails to select which account you are sending from. This would let you select non-gmail accounts too.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Niraj: this is will eventually trigger password aging..after all if you dont log into your hotmail or other accounts for 30 days..its kinda asks you for a reactive too.....

Varun [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

I am a huge fan of google but one thing I do think is annoying in Gmail is opening of a blank window,every time I have to download attachment...Its simply no done

me [PersonRank 8]

18 years ago #

There's a firefox extension which will disable the blank windows that open on downloads; I believe it's called something like disable target on download

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

/pd: Only if you use non-gmail accounts – but why would you do that? :)

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Niraj: so true, but why would you say this "This would let you select non-gmail accounts too." – then eh ??

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Well, there's a small chance someone out there is using one :)

Randy Charles Morin [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

k, goto Bloglines search

http://www.bloglines.com/search

Search for iblogthere4im (my blog).

http://www.bloglines.com/search?r=0&q=iblogthere4im&submit=Search

It returns both channel and item results. The first 8 channels results are identical. Bad, but not the worse. Scroll down and you'll not that after the channel results, the item results being.

Now search for rss (a common term).

http://www.bloglines.com/search?r=0&q=rss&submit=Search

Now try to find the first item result. I gave up before I found it.

Meryl [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

Gmail – since it's added the Delete button, I keep hitting Not Spam button when trying to delete the Spam emails from the Spam folder because the Not Spam button is where the Delete button is in other windows.

Netflix – My husband and I share a Netflix account, yet I can't rate movies because we can only have one account between us. My husband and I like a lot of the same movies, but he also likes some I don't like. We should be allowed to have our own account for rating.

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