I've written an article about some of the less mentioned annoyances we encounter on the web every day. Some of the sinners include Amazon and the new VW GTI website. Check it out, and let me know what is missing on the list. The top entry will get writen up for the 7 sin, which is still unclaimed. There's a prize too helping me with this one.
Here's an excerpt without the hotlinks:
Quote:
III. Drop Down Menus
Almost every site on the net is guilty of this sin, and they all deserve to burn in the “Web Usability Hell”.
The Annoying: Drop down menus create a mine field everywhere they are used. I have to hold my breath while reading your content, or remove my hand from the mouse. If I don’t, the text I am reading could disappear at any time under that lovely drop down menu of yours.
For fun, I want to point out some big name sinners when it comes to this one:
Amazon.com manages to cover pretty much the whole screen on a 800×600 when the mouse is placed over “See all 32 Product Categories”. Hovering over “Find Gifts” also takes out a chunk of the display area. There are a few more smaller offenders, but they pale in comparison to the two main creatures of evil. Geez Amazon, just use a regular link that shows the info when it’s asked for. It’s not that hard! You’ve used that marvelous concept in other areas of the site. Time to spread the goodness around!
Canadian Business Online has three areas of the page where placing the mouse cursor will render the first paragraph of the feature article unreadable. The Subscribe links for “Canadian Business” and “Money Sense” cover all lines of the first paragraph on my 1152×864 resolution desktop. The same goes for the “Entrepreneur” button. Other “pop-ups” partially obstruct the feature article, making this another truly unpredictable minefield. This feels a little like “Whack the Mole” with things popping up everywhere. Great fun, no? All I can say is “burn baby, burn”.
Jacob Nielsen no longer considers Amazon the top role model for e commerce website design. He doesn’t specifically mention the issues I have with the site, but I think he’d agree with me. You’ll find Jacob’s Amazon usability issues list in his July 25, 2005 Alertbox.
|
[link removed]