The omg, wtf and whaaa of UX

Forms edition

We all see them, get annoyed by them and if we’re in the industry, we even smugly point fingers. Hopefully we learn from them, not just: “look at this! I’m so much better than that”. Because we all made and still make mistakes. And probably still will.

1. Names & addresses

Why is middle name mandatory? Ahh… I should call my mum and tell her to rename me to “Andreea NONE”.

Why do I have to split my address into 2 lines? What if I would just have a number of a street, like *101 Amazing Road*. What would I put in the 2nd line?

I’ve just arrived on this page, why are you telling me the email is empty? I know it’s empty! I just got here!

Where exactly do I have to put in my name?

Ahh, in the middle of the page. Makes sense. Not! Ok, email now.. you’re telling me it’s ok even though I haven’t put my @… hmm… And why are you telling me I have to press ENTER? Is that to validate the ok, the email or to go next? But my email is not finished. Or is it related to the next question as it’s closer to that than to the email non-field? Ahh… I give up.

If you’re gonna pop-up spam me, then at least make it a little bit bigger so it fits?

2. Inputs, dropdowns and pickers

This one might be familiar to readers/authors here… The arrow is for the date… and the minuscule up and down arrows are for the hour… which I have to go all the way on the left to click on the hour then go on the tiny arrows, then go back to minutes then back to the arrows. What would Fitts say?

Aa… what? Where do I have to look first and … what? How come the price is too low if it’s £100?

On clicking “Upload a file” on a previous screen I get this. I obviously click on the BIG GREEN BUTTON. But nothing happens. Then I try the 2nd largest, “Upload File” — that’s why I’m here after all. But again nothing. Then I figure it out! It’s the small “Choose file” in the middle of the pop-up I have to click first! Then “upload file” THEN above “Attach selected”. Ahh… no.

So is my address the same or not? Is that a mistake or… why is it red?

I can’t NOT put a date. It’s automatically filled in for me… what?

I think I’m well within the limit so… I guess their devs didn’t think anybody would be under the recommended limit?

3. Buttons and submitting

Hmm… I have to say I haven’t seen this one before. How exactly by clicking a button you are obligating me to pay, especially if I haven’t yet entered my payment details?

To mention on this one, the ‘button’ is not “Make payment” is the tick ICON next to it… That’s so 2012.. isn’t it… or not?

I kept looking on the page to see where the error was with my basket, then with the confirmation.. then I realise there wasn’t an error… so why… nevermind. ctrl+w

4. Passwords — yes they deserve a section of their own

I know it’s too short, I haven’t started typing anything in it! Stop telling me I made a mistake before I even started!

Now this is very useful when I’m checking I got the right number of characters, isn’t it?

So I’ve followed your long list of criterias, and STILL not good. Decide already! and what’s that green text on a… key? Not to mention I clicked on “Go to login” afterwards…

Overwhelmed is an understatement here… I’m not even gonna go in this one.

And at the end, one I actually liked:

Of course I would! If you ask me so nicely

I honestly learned a lot from experiencing these and even struggling with a couple of them.

I learned what I should pay more attention to unhappy paths, but also not to underestimate the frequency of these appearing!

Some of these websites are just old, and maybe a designer wasn’t involved in the process back then, but some of them want to be new and so wizzy, that are just not bothering testing it with real people… Because sometimes, reinventing the wheel, makes the same old driver crash the car.

Andreea