Tabbing through the 'Net

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Snarky comment: TWiT.tv's site looks beautiful, but the top navigation makes no sense. I remember hearing Alex Lindsay talk about how difficult it was to get the Drupal CMS to do what they wanted it to do with the navigation. Maybe it was difficult to implement 'cause Drupal knows better...?

What's wrong here?

1. Each of these tabs--with the exception of Home and About--takes you to a different site with a completely different look and navigation model. Essentially, the tabs are links to related (and alternatively-hosted) destinations. Why's that bad? Because tabs suggest sections within a site, not links to somewhere else. It's confusing when they behave otherwise. Better: A collection of links on every page at the top of the right column, defined so the target pages open in a different browser window (or tab).
   
2. One could argue that the Home and About tabs aren't necessary either. Home replicates the de facto click-the-top-left-logo-to-go-home link [not shown here], and About could (and probably should) be combined with the oddly-compelling Huh? link in the top right corner.
   
3. Welcome really means Sign In...and it should be labeled so.
4. What purpose does the TWiT logo serve here?
   

Full disclosure: It pains me to call out TWiT.tv as an example. I am a huge fan of the content on the TWiT network: I listen to many of Leo's shows, I'm a monthly contributor, and I participate in the TWiT forums. But a bad UI is a bad UI, and this is what I do--teach people how to create better user experiences by pointing out mistakes to avoid.

Source: TWiT.tv

No...I WON'T Go!

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MESSAGE: Opt-out Email Confirmation

BUTTONS: No, I do NOT wish to Unsubscribe/Yes, Unsubscribe me

Snarky comment: If you don't wish to cancel your subscription, then...why are you even here?

What's wrong here?

1. The jargon starts on line one. Opt-out Email Confirmation is unnecessarily technical and doesn't clearly describe the function you can perform here. Better: Cancel Email Subscription.
2. Enter Email. A half-baked instruction as a label is no substitute for an accurately descriptive label and concise inline instructions. Better label: Email address. Better instructions: Type the email address to remove from the subscription.
   
3. But this leads to another issue: Why isn't this field pre-filled? You get here by clicking a link on a message otherwise aware of your e-mail address, so why should you have to type it yourself here?
4. I'm going to pretend that the word "email" without a hyphen doesn't bother me. It does, but I'll pretend it doesn't since I realize it's just a style preference. For the record, Chicago also prefers "e-mail" with a hyphen.
   
5. The first button totes a most tortured label: No, I do NOT wish to Unsubscribe. Presumably you so don't want to cancel your subscription you find it necessarily to yell the word "not." So why does this button even exist? Why would you be here if you didn't want to cancel your subscription?
6. The second button (the default, despite any visual differentiation to that effect), triggers the cancellation process. The language "Unsubscribe me" is cumbersome. Simpler is usually better: OK.
   

Source: Third-party e-mail subscription service used by D-Link