Success! (I Think)

Click image to enlarge

MESSAGE: Enter another code above or click Done. You can enter up to 10 codes per day

Snarky comment: I'll ignore the annoying points odometer. I'll overlook that the instruction under the code box presented as a sentence isn't one. I'll even ignore the most annoying fact that pressing ENTER doesn't submit this form. What I can't get past, however, is that some designer somewhere thought that white text on a light gray textured background [outlined here in yellow] was a good idea. And that countless parties who reviewed and signed off on this design (presumably) agreed.

What's wrong here?

1. White text on light gray = unreadable (in my opinion).
   
2. Is there a period after "day?" Or is that just a water droplet? I can't tell.
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

Don't Click Here

Click image to enlarge

Click Grab Your Drink for new brands in My Coke Rewards >

Snarky comment: This may be my favorite of all the My Coke Rewards blunders. This line of text on the My Coke Rewards home page reads like a link, looks like a link, and reacts to your mouse like a link. But...it's not a link. Psych!

What's wrong here? One more time for effect: It's not a link. The line of text above it...that's a link. This isn't. So why it is presented with another line that is a link, which looks and behaves identically? Why do you see a link pointer when you hover over this line (just like the line above it)? Why doesn't this just also click through to the Grab Your Drink feature? These are all good questions. Adding to the confusion, this line of text is followed by a chevron that points to the right. The link the text references is to the left. (In my opinion,) this doesn't belong here.

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

This is Site is Embarrassing

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MESSAGE: This is email address is not valid. Please enter a valid email address.

BUTTONS: Try Again

Snarky comment: I think the button sums it up best: (In my opinion,) Coca-cola needs to try again with My Coke Rewards. I'm starting to feel like I'm their QA group. For all intents and purposes, maybe I am.

What's wrong here?

1. There are too many 'is's in the first sentence of this message.
   
2. While pressing ENTER submits the login form (which is how you get here), it doesn't have any effect now. You have to purposefully click Try Again. I'd assert that if you get this message, it's safe to assume that the next thing you'll want to do is Try Again.
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

O What To Do Next...

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What do o want to do next?

Snarky comment: What do I want to do? I don't know...what do U want to do?

What's wrong here?

1. In what is likely the most egregious typo I've found at My Coke Rewards yet, somebody managed to misspell "you." More offensive is that, of all the parties involved - which likely included design, development, marketing, management, and possibly even executive staff - nobody is catching these errors.
   
2. "Thanks for Drinking" is a heading, right? Why does it have a period?
3. "Return to Homepage," like the other options here, is a sentence. Why doesn't it have a period?
4. Spacing between these options is inconsistent.
5. What options, you say? Maybe that's because (in my opinion) they don't even look like options. They're not underlined links, and they don't react to your mouse in any way. Maybe bullets or arrows or something would help.
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

My Coke Errors

TITLE: ERROR

MESSAGE: Couldn't load XML file

Snarky comment: Error messages abound in the new Flash-based My Coke Rewards site. This one appears to be more of a debugging message than an error fit for customer consumption.

What's wrong here?

1. This fails the "Mom" test: Would your Mom likely know what this means? Probably not. I'd argue that most non-technical people would not.
   
2. Whether you understand the message or not, this particular error provides no useful information to customers. Couldn't load XML file. So what? What's impact does that have? What are your options at this point? This is a situation where a Help link would be useful (provided it lead to something...relevant).
   
3. Errors in My Coke Rewards are presented inconsistently. In fact, there are numerous inconsistencies, suggesting inefficient design (in my opinion).
4. This message is a sentence, but it lacks a period.
   
5. I'd really like to see an OK button here that I could "click" by pressing Enter.
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

KO Can't Spell

MESSAGE: Sorry. An application error has ocurred. Please try again.

Snarky comment: Sorry. A spelling error has ocurred. It's a good thing (in my opinion) this application looks so 2.0...at least I'm adequately distracted by the reflective graphics.

What's wrong here?

1. This message is a little too apologetic. Even considering that this is the product of a multi-billion dollar, global corporation...it's a little too apologetic.
   
2. APPLICATION? OK...all you non-geeks out there: tell me how many of you think of the My Coke Rewards site as an application. Anyone...? Anyone...?
3. Occurred. Two Cs, two Rs. I love spell-check. Particularly because I probably would have spelled that word wrong otherwise.
4. I tried again. It still didn't work.
5. Not even an OK button?
6. BTW, "Help" helps you understand how to enter Coke Rewards codes properly. But that's not so helpful in this situation.
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

Things Are Not OK at KO

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: Coca-Cola's My Coke Rewards site has come under fire for fostering obesity and other ills, but I'm calling this recently redesigned site out as a text book example of a bad Flash UI ([for the lawyers:] in my opinion). It's slow, it's buggy, it adds an extra click (and wait) to nearly every action, and it suffers from sloppy design. That's not snarky...that's just how it is (in my opinion). [This is all in my opinion because the person who accused My Coke Rewards of fostering obesity is facing unimaginable bullying from Coca-Cola's legal representation.]

What's wrong here?

1. I'm anonymous. Wahoo! Obviously, there should be values here. Interestingly, while most of the values are "undefined," my 2nd street address is just not...defined. I guess that's different. Note that my password isn't actually 9 characters long - that's just "undefined" masked.
   
2. These fields should more appropriately say "unaligned." There are alignment problems everywhere here: the headings, the boxes, the labels, the values, the buttons, ... [I've run out of things to enumerate] don't align across sections.
3. The warping effect of the boxes is a disturbing side effect of the design (in my opinion).
   

Source: www.mycokerewards.com

You Are Just a Number

TITLE: [standard web alert message title]

TYPE: Warning

MESSAGE: Your user ID must be numeric.

BUTTONS: OK

Snarky comment: Proving that George Lucas wasn't totally off base, some online institutions now require that you identify yourself by number. User name? That's so 2006....

What's wrong here?

1. If they want numbers, then the UI should clearly say so up front. While "digits" might seem like sufficient guidance, it's a little too subtle, since most people would expect otherwise. Better: numeric digits.
   
2. Why numeric? The only numeric codes people are likely to remember easily are those that others could also guess. So how is this significantly more secure than most people's alpha(numeric) user ID?
   

Phone Number For-mat-ting

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: This phone number parser is extremely robust - it will interpret nearly any valid domestic phone number format you throw at it. It's a shame that the person who wrote that function didn't confer with the person who wrote the on-screen instructions.

What's wrong here?

1. The instructions direct you to enter phone numbers in xxx-xxx-xxxx format, but the form changes the number to (xxx) xxx-xxxx format. No matter how many times you change it, the number will always revert to the format with the area code in parenthesis. The instructions, then, are misleading and confusing.
   
2. It turns out that any valid phone format will do - it's smart enough to parse any phone number format you can throw at it. Hyphens, dots, slashes, spaces...it deals with them all. This is great! This is how more systems should work. But then...why provide formatting instructions at all? They suggest that you need to do more work than you really have to.
   

Source: Yahoo! People Search

A Limited Menu

Snarky comment: The commands in this application's menus are spread a bit thin, don't you think?

What's wrong here?

1. While 'Tool' [singular] is grammatically correct here, the menu should be named 'Tools' [plural].
   
2. Correcting the oddity of a Tools [plural] menu with just one item, both Macro and Settings could (and arguably should) be in the Tools menu.

Source: Sony RM-TP100 Editor

Un-palette-able

TITLE: Color Palette Setting (All Pages)

BUTTONS: Apply/Cancel

Snarky comment: I believe this dialog may have been designed for robots, not humans. Who starts counting from zero? Sony strikes again by delivering a horrible user experience.

What's wrong here?

1. The parenthetical All Pages isn't really necessary. It's implied, since this is a system setting. As it stands, its inclusion just makes the title unnecessarily wordy. Better: Color Palette Settings [note plural].
   
2. The developer might have a fundamental misunderstanding of the term palette. This dialog defines the colors in a palette. This dialog suggests that each color is, in itself, a palette. Wrong.
3. Serious...who counts from zero? Machines do, but most people do not. I don't care about the index value for each color; I shouldn't be forced to think like a machine. Better: Color 1, Color 2, etc.
   
4. The headings above each column (color/values) are not aligned consistently. The label above the color column isn't really even necessary.
   
5. I'd argue that spin boxes would have been a more elegant solution than a drop-down list box for each color value. Better: a color picker.
   
6. 'Apply' is misused as the label for what should be the OK button. Apply suggests that, after saving the changes, the window will remain open. It doesn't.
7. The shortcut key on the Cancel button is not necessary.
   

Source: Sony RM-TP100 Editor

Yes...No...Maybe

Click image to enlarge

TITLE: Install/Update

TYPE: Question

MESSAGE: It is recommended you restart the workbench for the changes to take effect, but it may be possible to apply the change to the current configuration without restarting.Would you like to restart now?

BUTTONS: Yes/No/Apply Changes

Snarky comment: Honestly, I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do here. Why is this decision left up to me?

What's wrong here?

1. Giving the user lots of options isn't always a good thing. I don't really need to know that I might be able to get by without actually restarting. In this case, I'm not really confident that I understand the difference between what the three buttons will do. Just tell me to restart: "You must restart the workbench to complete the installation process. Restart now?"
2. Missing space between the two sentences.
3. Why no shortcut key for Apply Changes?
   

Source: Subclipse installation in Flex Builder (/Eclipse)

Could You Repeat the Question?

TITLE: Closing Buddy List Window

MESSAGE: You will continue to receive IMs even though your Buddy List window is closed. To send an IM or Sign Out, click the AIM icon in your Windows Task Bar Tray.

BUTTONS: Close

[x] Do not ask me this again

Snarky comment: Ask me what?

What's wrong here?

1. There's no question here. Do not askshow me this again.
   
2. Generally, fewer words = better. Better title: Buddy List.
   
3. Windows Task Bar Tray a.k.a "notification area" f.k.a. "tray."
4. Why Close? Why not OK?
   

Source: AOL Instant Messenger 6.1

Taxing TurboTax

Click image to enlarge

You are due a federal tax refund of [some amount.] The IRS estimates that you can expect to have your refund direct deposited into your bank account on or around 4/27/07. Explai This

Snarky comment: Explai This, TurboTax...What's with all the word bolding this year? It is the syntactical equivalent of choppy waters.

What's wrong here?

1. Missing the "n" in the word "Explain."
2. Why is there a capital "T" in "This?"
3. Since when did punctuation become optional?
4. When will this choppy sentence ride end? [Insert virtual dizziness here.]

Source: TurboTax Deluxe Deduction Maximizer 2006

You're Getting Warmer

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: Does anyone else think the little buttons look a little...inappropriate?

What's wrong here?

1. What on this good earth is this? Talk about ill-conceived information architecture; this UI element is way over-designed. Expressed more simply, users have three sound quality options from which to choose. Each has its trade-offs, but these are not addressed here.
   
2. Those...bumps...are actually the options. Unfortunately, they're so camouflaged in the graphical scale, it's hard to see which option is selected.
3. It's interesting that there's no Low option. It starts at Normal. It's kind of like ordering coffee nowadays, where the smallest cup is (for marketing purposes) labeled Tall.
   
4. Does it bother anyone else that the scale is arithmetic, while the values are logarithmic?
   

Source: vonage.com

Count de Money

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: If you need a little help in this year's TurboTax - I'm sorry, I mean TurboTax Deluxe Deduction Maximizer 2006 - this handy dandy little calculator will do ya' just fine...if you can find it.

What's wrong here?

1. It's great that there's a calculator in TurboTax, but why isn't it easier to access? There's no visual cue (in the form of a calculator icon), there's no keyboard shortcut, and it's not even in the context menu for the text box.
2. If the application has its own calculator, why not give me some functionality over Windows' own built-in calc.exe? For example, bigger numbers and buttons (the buttons are actually smaller than Windows' calculator). Or a one-button 'half' function. If you share assets or expenses with another person, but file separately, you're often dividing interest, taxes, and other amounts by 2.
   
3. The calculator itself looks like a throwback from Windows 95. Interesting design choice.
   
4. Who named the product this year?
   

Source: TurboTax Deluxe Deduction Maximizer 2006

42 Problems

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: The official Douglas Adams website hardly honors Adam's work in the way it deserves. Douglas' catalogue continues to earn money for publishers and distributors - I think it's time they sunk a little into this site.

What's wrong here?

1. Over-stylized navigation block is difficult to read.
   
2. Adams' responses to various questions span the length of the left margin on most pages. These question/answer blurbs are interesting, but they are hard to read, since they're wrapped so tightly in the left margin. On some the pages, these responses extend far beyond the actual content.
   
3. Too many fonts and unrelated graphical elements.
4. Overall, the site is stale and in desperate need of a complete redesign.
   

Source: www.douglasadams.com

Ever Have One of Those Days...?

TITLE: Error

TYPE: Critical

MESSAGE: Unexpected error; quitting

BUTTONS: OK

Snarky comment: Ever get so fed up - have so many things go wrong (it is Friday the 13th, after all) - you just wanted to quit? Just drop what you're doing. Don't even bother to finish your

What's wrong here?

1. C'mon...a little help maybe? This gives me no idea what went wrong, what I might have done to trigger this condition, or how to correct it. It's like my computer just threw up it's hands and yelled, "I give up!" At least let me know what program feature or function failed.
2. What's next? Will the program I was using close/restart/hang/continue? Let me know the consequences of this situation.
   
3. The semicolon in this message suggests that the lack of closing punctuation is intentional. Nonetheless, sentence form is more standard (and typically more helpful) for error messages.
   
4. The Close button is disabled...like clicking that could make things any worse.
   

Just in Error

Click image to enlarge

TITLE: Application Error

MESSAGE: Change this error message for exceptions thrown outside of an action (like in Dispatcher setups or broken Ruby code) in public/500.html

Snarky comment: OK, so I admit it...I'm an occasional Justin-watcher. Does that justify [he he] this error when I can't remember my password to contribute a random comment?

What's wrong here?

1. This is a lot of technobabble for a bunch of voyeuristic folks to comprehend. Now, one could argue his audience is largely geeks....
   
2. This error message appears because his site developers never bothered to change the boilerplate error text to something...relevant(...informative...helpful...else).
   

Source: www.justin.tv

Forms of Communication

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TITLE: Error

MESSAGE: You have not completely filled out this form.

BUTTONS: OK

Snarky comment: Who the #^(& thinks of a messaging window as a form? Developers do. AIM buddies don't.

What's wrong here?

1. People using AIM don't think of it as a form. Sure, for the developers, it's a form...but users don't (and shouldn't be expected to) understand that.
2. This error occurs when you attempt to send a message, but you haven't actually typed one yet. Why does this error condition even exist? Better: (1) You press Enter without having typed a message; (2) nothing happens.
   

Source: AOL Instant Messenger 6.1

For a Good Time Call...

Click image to enlarge

TITLE: https://my.netgear.com

TYPE: Warning

MESSAGE: You must enter a valid telephone (numbers only - No spaces or dashes!)

BUTTONS: OK

Snarky comment: This developer apparently believes that telephones don't and shouldn't have any punctuation. I agree. Telephone numbers, on the other hand...well that's a completely different issue.

What's wrong here?

1. Wrong object. They meant "telephone number."
   
2. Note to developers: DON'T FORCE USERS TO FORMAT INFORMATION A CERTAIN WAY JUST TO MAKE IT EASIER ON YOU!
   
3. It's wrong to suggest that a user has entered information incorrectly just because it's not in the format that the developer expected. Better: a tooltip or hint near the text box that cues the user with the desired format. Even better: DON'T FORCE USERS TO FORMAT INFORMATION A CERTAIN WAY JUST TO MAKE IT EASIER ON YOU!
   
4. (numbers only - No spaces or dashes!)
   (numbers only, without spaces and punctuation).
   

Source: www.netgear.com

No Taxation without Representation

Click image to enlarge

TITLE: TurboTax Deluxe Deducation Maximizer 2006

MESSAGE: Choose Your Free State

One state tax return is included free with TurboTax ...

BUTTONS: Cancel/Back/Next

Snarky comment: I guess those license plates did the trick - there's apparently no tax return for the District of Columbia.

What's wrong here?

1. "Choose Your Free State" may elicit unintended emotions in some locales. Better heading: Choose Your State.
   
2. The District of Columbia is not listed - neither correctly (under D) nor incorrectly (further down the list as Washington, D.C.).
3. Since District of Columbia residents do pay income taxes, it's a bit of a leap for these folks to select "Don't install the State" from this list - especially since the instructions suggest that doing so might preclude them from using TurboTax to prepare their state return. Within TurboTax, however, D.C. residents can select and install their local return.
   
4. Instructions: Don't Install the State [big 'I']
   List: Don't install the State [small 'i']
5. Better instructions: Select "Don't install now" in the following list if you don't want to install your state tax return software at this time.
   

Source: TurboTax 2006 installation

Out of Options

TITLE: Partition Commander

TYPE: Critical

MESSAGE: Operation failed

DPMI error

Error source: Hard Disk Manager
Error code: 0x10094

Fewer options

BUTTONS: Close

Snarky comment: Fewer options? Fewer than what? What options do I have, exactly?

What's wrong here?

1. This error message, even fully unfurled, gives me no helpful information about the error that occurred and what might have caused it. DPMI? What is that?
   
2. There are no options here. Better, more appropriate labels for displaying more or less information: More Information and Less Information.
3. The shortcut (C) for the Close button is a nice touch, but it's completely unnecessary. Close is the only command button here. It would be more useful to have a shortcut to expand and collapse the window.
   

Source: Partition Commander 10

Are We There Yet?

Click image to enlarge

MESSAGE: Updating Remote Control Software.  This may take a few minutes. Please wait.

Snarky comment: Sure. I'll just wait here. You let me know when you're finished, OK?

What's wrong here?

1. An installation program has been running in the background. Eventually, this skinny little message bar appears to let me know what's going on. There is otherwise no indicator that the installation is in progress. I had assumed that the installation program had crashed.
2. Why no progress bar? How am I supposed to know how long this is going to take?
3. Finally, what's with the chromeless window? It doesn't appear in the taskbar, I can't move it or minimize it, ... I have no control over it. Thanks.
4. Two spaces or one? Unless you're using a typewriter circa 1975, it's one space after closing punctuation. In any event, pick one (or two) and stick with it.

Source: Harmony Remote Control Software update

Access Denied

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TITLE: Request Error

MESSAGE: Permission denied. You need to login first.

Snarky comment: Permission denied. That's not exactly the most welcoming and forgiving message for a family-oriented media sharing service.

What's wrong here?

1. There's much more tech speak here than necessary. Your average non-technical person doesn't think of clicking a Web link as a request. And "denied" is such a harsh word.
   
2. There are definitely better ways of handling this situation. Instead of blocking me with an error when I need to log in, why not just prompt me for my user ID and password now? Alternatively, hide the things I can't do before I log in until I have logged in.
3. Login (n); Log in (v).
   
4. Doesn't this box seem unnecessarily large? And why is there no OK button? Frankly, I'd have preferred if they just used my browser's built-in message window.
   

Source: Orb 2.0 beta

Too Much "Information"

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TITLE: Microsoft Money Background Banking: mnybb.exe - Application Error

TYPE: Critical

MESSAGE: The instruction at "0x7c911e58" referenced memory at "0xffffffff". The memory could not be "read".

Click on OK to terminate the program

BUTTONS: OK

Snarky comment: This reminds me of those annoying people who talk too much and overuse "air quotes." At least with "air quotes" you don't have to worry about where to put the ending punctuation. Or if you should even have ending punctuation

What's wrong here?

1. That title's a mouthful. Instead, something simpler like "Microsoft Money" could do the trick. The filename doesn't help me any, and clearly there was an application error.
   
2. None of the quotation marks are necessary.
3. With no quotation marks to worry about, the developer wouldn't have had to figure out where to put the periods - which, for the record, the developer figured incorrectly.
   
4. "Click on OK to terminate the program" gives me more responsibility than I want to bare. I'd rewrite the entire error message: Money Background Banking has encountered an error and must shut down. Click OK to continue.
   
5. Speaking of periods, I think we're missing one...
   

Source: Microsoft Money 2007

Riding Sidecar

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: NVIDIA's Additional Display Properties isn't a window - it's a growth that clings to the side of your system's Advanced display properties dialog. What do you think this is...a Mac? OK, so I'm not big on the OS X drawer control, but does it really have any place in Windows?

What's wrong here?

1. Let's assume I can come to peace with the drawer control on my Windows PC. The thing is, it's not even implemented well. Choosing the GeForce tab pops the drawer open - in some cases moving the host dialog to make room for the unwelcome protrusion.
2. The drawer contains a navigation control...in the form of a hierarchical tree. Click an item in the tree, and the entire contents of the GeForce tab changes. Can this get any more convoluted?
3. Click off the properties dialog and the drawer goes away - even when it's "pinned" open - leaving behind no hint of which section is active. Tell me that isn't confusing.
   
4. The Additional Properties button [with an ellipses] seems like it might and should open a child window, but it does not. In fact, NVIDIA has been so kind as to provide balloon help to explain why it doesn't work the way you'd expect it to. A separate, tabbed window would have been a better implementation for the GeForce properties.
5. The NVIDIA Information button - with chevrons that suggest an expanding window - triggers a pop-up menu. I think this development team needs to go back and retake UI Controls for Windows 101.
   

Source: NVIDIA GeForce Display Properties

Transfer Woes, Part 2

TITLE:

TYPE: Question

MESSAGE: Disable browser integration?

BUTTONS: Yes/No

Snarky comment: Had I asked for a "browser integration?"

What's wrong here?

1. Remember that shy, immature "." button on the previous screen? Yeah, so pressing it opens this window. It appears that the only button not really labeled on the previous screen could have some impact. I was thinking it was effectively a Cancel button - but then there is a Cancel button on that screen. Maybe "." is Cancel's evil twin!
2. Perhaps the Core FTP folks have some personal vendetta against titles? But I do appreciate the title bar area.
3. Since it appears now that pressing "." on the previous screen is canceling something, it seems even more appropriate to provide some type of help or explanation there.

Source: Core FTP

Transfer Woes, Part 1

MESSAGE: Transfer file(s) with Core FTP?

BUTTONS: Yes/Always/No/Save As/"View/Exec"/Edit/Cancel

Snarky comment: Step right up! Push a button, any button!

What's wrong here?

1. This window appeared when I tried to download an updated driver from a website. Core FTP is installed on my system, but I've never seen this window before when downloading from the Web. If the rest of the program looked like this (which it generally does not), I'd never use it. Now I have a burning urge to more closely examine Core FTP's UI.
2. Title?
3. Perhaps some text indicating how the buttons should be used? Anyone else have a sudden urge to play a round of Whac-A-Mole?
4. I assume "Exec" is really "Execute."
5. Cheers to the developer for making the buttons the same size. Jeers for the horrible layout.
6. Always? As in, "UI developers should Always consider using standards" or perhaps "Always show this screen-o-buttons"?
7. Notice the tiny "." button in the bottom right corner? Hmm, how the application reacts if I press this less noticeable UI component. Perhaps it is just very shy? or just immature? (do buttons grow?). I'll review this button's selection in a future post.

Source: Core FTP

A Fool's Paradise

Click image to enlarge

Snarky comment: Wow...it's difficult to critique this UI. In fact, rather than specifically enumerating what's wrong, today....

What's right here?

1. Alternate use of "find" and "search."
2. Italicized system font adds creative flair.
   
3. Cute, uniquely-shaped buttons suggest their respective functions.
4. Expressive use of color.
5. Variable font sizes uses maximum available space for button labels.
   
6. Shortcut keys for Ok and Cancel buttons give users more navigation options.
7. Re-use of "A" as a shortcut for Add and Again buttons conserves keystrokes.
8. Close button has a prominent position on the screen.
   
9. It may be April 1, but don't be a fool. This UI is really bad.
   

Source: Wintrax XP