If you left it to Microsoft to design every application interface in history, the iPod would have never been the success story it is today. But this is not an examination of why Apple 'get' design. This is an examination of flaws that shouldn't be there in the first place. By making things appear easier, the total application looks harder to use than it actually is.
Let's just have a quick look over the Windows Live login screen. I'm looking at it through IE6 on a Windows 98SE machine. So, my experience is totally in the hands of Redmond as I write this.
It's colourful enough, sure. It's also extremely big. What made it so big?
Useless Happy Talk
The first column is just happy talk, plain and simple. It's also verging on the edge of being patronising, which is probably the worst application of happy talk that there is. Please Microsoft, give me some credit. I think I should know how to use a login form by now.
Ironically enough, being on the left, the happy talk is the first thing you'll read. Microsoft have inadvertently drawn attention to a block of text nobody should be reading. People should be logging in here, not waddling about pushing their mouse around in some popcorn and wondering why Vista's 'cupholder' just broke.
Using Buttons As Links
The second column gets worse. The reason buttons are buttons is that they perform actions. They are not hyperlinks. A hyperlink takes you to another page without any action taken, whereas a button performs an action, such as deletion.
What irks me about the second column is not that Microsoft want me to sign up for a shiny new Hotmail account. It's that the way in which they have added an unnecessary button to what could have been a simple link.
Another annoyance is the little icon beside Windows Live ID. It sort of looks like a link, because the icon appears to have an action behind it - but nothing. In fact, it's almost duplicating the information found in the third column.
The third column is the most useful, because it contains a form. Yet it seems to have the lowest visual priority because it's over on the far right. It's all nice until after the password field. In which lies some confusion.
Link Colours
Blue is a common link standard on the Web. And Microsoft to their credit have put many of their links as blue. But, one isn't. And it's the 'Use enhanced security' "link". Why is this? Why is one link black when all the others on the page are either grey or blue? It's confusing.
And why is this even an option anyway? Shouldn't we be signing in over SSL automatically? Tell me, what is the advantage of giving two security options and, by default, enabling the inferior non-SSL login? What's the point in writing a feature such as User Annoyance Control and allowing the user to disable it?
UAC is another topic. I'm going off topic here.
Tooltips
I can't believe that I'm actually writing this. The tooltip for the 'enhanced security' option gives rough idea of what it does. What would be better is 'Click to login via a secure server'. That's it. The current tooltip is a little wooly (why would I want to see a lock icon? What does that do?). Worse, remaining links don't have tooltips.
Instead of popping up an absurdly large popup for the (?) links, why aren't those tooltips? Why does 'enhanced security' get a tooltip? Why does the 'Sign up' button get a tooltip, but the login button doesn't?
If you're going to do tooltips, be consistent.
Branding
There's too much of it here. Windows this, Windows that. Hell, read this from one of the Windows experience blogs.
Talk about a mouthful. I doubt that any of these applications need the 'Windows Live' tag. I think it sounds cheesy and very much within the realm of monopolising online presence; Microsoft for your email. Microsoft for your office work. Microsoft for your desktop. What's wrong with catchy names, like Basecamp, Digg, Blinksale or just 'plain old' Hotmail? Infact Hotmail is a great name all by itself. It's like Feedburner. Roll with the Hotmail name and drop the stupid 'we must own every software program you use' paradigm.
Let's just have a quick look over the Windows Live login screen. I'm looking at it through IE6 on a Windows 98SE machine. So, my experience is totally in the hands of Redmond as I write this.
It's colourful enough, sure. It's also extremely big. What made it so big?
Useless Happy Talk
The first column is just happy talk, plain and simple. It's also verging on the edge of being patronising, which is probably the worst application of happy talk that there is. Please Microsoft, give me some credit. I think I should know how to use a login form by now.
Ironically enough, being on the left, the happy talk is the first thing you'll read. Microsoft have inadvertently drawn attention to a block of text nobody should be reading. People should be logging in here, not waddling about pushing their mouse around in some popcorn and wondering why Vista's 'cupholder' just broke.
Using Buttons As Links
The second column gets worse. The reason buttons are buttons is that they perform actions. They are not hyperlinks. A hyperlink takes you to another page without any action taken, whereas a button performs an action, such as deletion.
Arguing that a link should link is not just being pedantic. Users expect links
to navigate. Specifically, they expect an entirely new page to load,
replacing the current page. Any other action is liable to cause confusion. To
users, navigating is far removed from what the links in the REI do, which is
execute commands, actions that apply or alter the underlying business
objectsMichael Zuschlag, Links and Other Wrong Controls
What irks me about the second column is not that Microsoft want me to sign up for a shiny new Hotmail account. It's that the way in which they have added an unnecessary button to what could have been a simple link.
Another annoyance is the little icon beside Windows Live ID. It sort of looks like a link, because the icon appears to have an action behind it - but nothing. In fact, it's almost duplicating the information found in the third column.
The third column is the most useful, because it contains a form. Yet it seems to have the lowest visual priority because it's over on the far right. It's all nice until after the password field. In which lies some confusion.
Link Colours
Blue is a common link standard on the Web. And Microsoft to their credit have put many of their links as blue. But, one isn't. And it's the 'Use enhanced security' "link". Why is this? Why is one link black when all the others on the page are either grey or blue? It's confusing.
And why is this even an option anyway? Shouldn't we be signing in over SSL automatically? Tell me, what is the advantage of giving two security options and, by default, enabling the inferior non-SSL login? What's the point in writing a feature such as User Annoyance Control and allowing the user to disable it?
UAC is another topic. I'm going off topic here.
Tooltips
I can't believe that I'm actually writing this. The tooltip for the 'enhanced security' option gives rough idea of what it does. What would be better is 'Click to login via a secure server'. That's it. The current tooltip is a little wooly (why would I want to see a lock icon? What does that do?). Worse, remaining links don't have tooltips.
Instead of popping up an absurdly large popup for the (?) links, why aren't those tooltips? Why does 'enhanced security' get a tooltip? Why does the 'Sign up' button get a tooltip, but the login button doesn't?
If you're going to do tooltips, be consistent.
Branding
There's too much of it here. Windows this, Windows that. Hell, read this from one of the Windows experience blogs.
Windows Live Product Team Blogs. Almost all the Windows Live apps and services
have an official team blog you can visit to read the latest from their team
about their product. This can also be a great place for leaving feedback. Many
of these blogs allow for comments. You can leave feedback and suggestions
through leaving a comment on their blog (all you need to do is log in with your
Windows Live ID). How do you find all the team blogs? Simple. I have created a
special page specifically for all the Microsoft Team Blogs that exist. You can
see the list of Windows Live blogs here. The Windows Live Hotmail and Windows
Live Mail teams even have a blog specifically set up for email support. You can
also visit the new Windows Live Wire blog for all the Windows Live blogs as
well.
These two options are available to anyone wanting to leave
feedback on the Windows Live applications (such as Windows Live Messenger,
Windows Live Mail, and Windows Live Writer) or the Windows Live web services
(such as Windows Live SkyDrive, Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Spaces).
(source)
Talk about a mouthful. I doubt that any of these applications need the 'Windows Live' tag. I think it sounds cheesy and very much within the realm of monopolising online presence; Microsoft for your email. Microsoft for your office work. Microsoft for your desktop. What's wrong with catchy names, like Basecamp, Digg, Blinksale or just 'plain old' Hotmail? Infact Hotmail is a great name all by itself. It's like Feedburner. Roll with the Hotmail name and drop the stupid 'we must own every software program you use' paradigm.
Back onto Hotmail, there's way too many logos on this login screen. They have to go.
Rejig
Here's my proposal for a new login screen. It does away with what I think are key usability flaws. Gone is the Windows Live crap and back is the Hotmail of old. People don't have a chance to get confused with the Windows Live ID, as it's just a simple username/password combination. There's no happy talk and no three column confusion.
I've also gotten rid of the useless footer for the most part and moved the 'Forgot password' to go with the 'help' link. Sign up is now a link. The whole thing is a lot less confusing and there's no crap anywhere - the space saved is shocking. It's not as minimal as it could be, but it's definitely better than what's there now.
What I didn't do was revamp the colour scheme - I like that.
As a side note: I did that entire exercise in Paint (you can tell from the lack of anti-aliasing on the Hotmail font) - really, does Microsoft consider that a worthy graphics editor to bundle with their operating system? Paint has a lot of potential to be great - but right now, it's rubbish.
Yes, I got the idea from Andy Rutledge. I thought it'd be a good exercise.
