Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Usability that Sucks

I know, Jared Spool loves to talk about the "Scent of Information" or about content that sucks the reader/viewer in, but sometimes a site sucks. "Sucks" as in, FUBAR, crappy, poorly executed, stupid, inane, insipid, lazy... I could go on.

Here is an example of one, the FBI Jobs website. Assuming they are going to change it at some point, here is a picture of the search screen:

What's wrong:
  • three different navigation actions
  • some fields whose labels are hard to read
  • the fields are probably required but unlabeled as such
  • some additional radio buttons that are cryptic, especially to a new visitor
  • an INSANE amount of red text
Just a few items, there are more. Look, I know that the developers of this site were under government contract and probably had 300+ pages of requirements and specifications, but come on! It is confusing as hell!

Here is the kicker:
I, not really applying for an FBI job but vaguely interested, clicked on the "Just Browsing" radio button and got this:
An unspecific error with no direction on what to do next. *sigh*

So, what are some remedies?
1) split the initial navigation into links: Just Browsing, New Users, Registered Users
2) if you want to get all Web2.0-ish, you could have the additional information needed for registered users display once they click the Registered Users link. Or you could just go to a new screen
3) the Please Note at the bottom should be color reversed (Please Note in red, paragraph below in black)
4) Since you probably can't change or lessen the number of words in the bottom Please Note paragraph (it cites US Code title & section), I'd remove it from the screen. I mean, if I am truly just browsing, aren't I not worried about falsifying information? Honestly, this paragraph probably needs to be put in the face of registering users and anyone who is about to submit an application for a specific job. Otherwise, it isn't necessary.
5) The Please Note at the top, change to a link that says: Important Note if you registered in our system prior to 2/22/2008. I can quickly judge if it applies to me, and if not, I can ignore it. If it does apply, I can click on it to see the important note.

you can see a revision here
IMPORTANT NOTE: only the registered users link works. Don't click anything else unless you want to apply for an FBI job.
Hey! These important notes are fun!

This revision took me ~15 minutes. Maybe less. And it looks a heck of a lot better.

But these are just my thoughts. what is your reaction?

2 comments:

  1. I have to say I dislike when all of the information is required and they actually tell me so. If most of the information is required, I'd much rather see what information is optional and have that noted.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would say the site is perfect how it is... It demonstrates just how confusing, eccentric, and bureaucratic government agencies are. Being able to understand the morass of information presented on this site is probably some kind of trial. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

No seriously, what do you think?
I'm probably full of s***, so tell me why I'm wrong.