44 Questions

Colin A. Bartlett — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:40:00 -0500

My Dad asked me to help him buy a new (Windows) computer for work today and I agreed to walk him through it on the phone. “Just get the best you can afford.” is usually my mantra to folks who ask for help speccing a PC.

Little did I know the gauntlet that lay before us.

Dell’s website demanded we choose options for each one of 44 different questions as a part of “building” a new laptop.

The process was truly laughable. While there’s something to be said for having a variety of options to get just what you want, this was just ridiculous. It’s no wonder the Mac is considered the non-technologists computer (and hell, now it’s the computer of geeks too)—Apple’s website has just 13 simple options all on one screen.

Most of the “options” were just upsells for all manner of add-ons from PDF writing capability (free with OS X, or an open source download but that’s another story…) all the way to “Would you like Dell to plant a tree for you when you buy this computer?” ($4).

Many of the options were nonsensical and difficult choices even for a seasoned veteran like myself. Here’s one of my favorite selections:

When will people learn that simple is often better? I’m reminded of the old “less software” approach of a well known company…

Is UI really that hard?

Colin A. Bartlett — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 12:37:00 -0500

Sometimes the horrendous user interfaces I come across on the web really astound me. I stumbled across this on an eCommerce site:

Who came up with this? And what were they on? How much simpler would it be if they just used what practically every other eCommerce site uses:

 0-12 $13.00
13-24 $2.80
...etc.

I took this screen shot from a 22 page PDF manual on how to use this particular website. Perhaps if the user interface was more carefully crafted, one wouldn’t need a manual on how to use the site.

has_many :thoughts: Tag ui

44 Questions

Is UI really that hard?