How to get your Sri Lankan Passport Renewal Appointment 100x faster

On Better UI Design

Two apologies in advance.

1. This is article primarily about UI Design; it is not really about how to renew your passport. Sorry for the click-baity title.
2. I’m not a UI Designer, nor is this article a comprehensive primer on UI design. Instead, I discuss just one aspect of good UI design. Hence, sorry for the click-baity sub-title also.

A Bad UI Design

Those of you who’ve tried to get your Sri Lankan Passport will know that it is difficult to get an appointment online. Not only is it difficult, the online system is far from user-friendly.

It starts well enough. You specify what type of “Application Type” you want and select which branch you want the appointment for.

Step 1) Select Application Type and Location

The next step is to select an Appointment Date, where you are shown a calendar. Now you might think that all dates that are not disabled have at least one appointment slot.

Sadly, this is not the case. Every weekday (including holidays) in the next 60 days is selectable. Most of them have no appointments; some (like holidays) never had.