PDA

View Full Version : Prime example on why the web sucks!



Greyed
November 7th, 2008, 11:17 AM
Ok, teeny rant here.

A few months back my MX1000 died and I had to get a new mouse. I bought an MX Revolution without actually seeing/holding one in the store. I figured I've had, and loved, 4 Logitech mice in a row the latest in the MX line can't be bad, right?

Wrong. They moved the RF receiver out of the base into a USB fob with extremely limited range. On my desk I'd lose connection when I moved my mouse too far to the right. Then they screwed up the whole middle-mouse button concept; anyone trying to paste in X with an MX Revolution is in for a shock.

I sent them a nastygram about this and swore I'd be careful on the next mouse purchase.

Well, my wife's MX1000 was on its last legs and her BDay is coming up. Being the geek that I am that meant a legit excuse to go mice shopping. None of the mice I could hold appealed. I dug around on Newegg and settled on the G7 because it actually had a picture of the base. Logitech put a USB port in the base so people who are using it for desktops can position it where it gets decent reception. Nice! Swappable batteries that are chargable in the base. Double nice! Reviews said they did away with the MX Revolution middle button. Triple nice!

So where in all this does the web suck? Simple.

I wanted to write Logitech and reference my previous nastygram and give them kudos for reversing those lame-brain ideas. I'm big on positive as well as negative reinforcement like that. So I trapse over to their home page and click on "Contact". Lots of physical addresses and phone numbers. No emails. Ok, fine, a web form will do. The only web form they had was for support and it demanded the model number and serial number off the mouse.

Ok, I get it, support form. But I have no problems with the mouse. That's why I'm writing! Furthermore the mouse is not here since it's my wife's mouse on her desk. I'd like to just send a comment of appreciation. But in this world of web 2.ungh doing something simple has to be mired in people trying to be too smart too soon in the process!

Now, Logitech is just the example here. I'm not complaining specifically about Logitech but about the assumptions their web page makes which many, many web pages also make. They just happen to be the most recent (as of 5 minutes ago recent) example.

mr.propre
November 7th, 2008, 01:19 PM
I understand your pain :-)
The problem today is that most websites are designed and developed by designers and developers. Sounds logic, but most website never get analysed in that way.

There isn't a scope (and non-scope) or there aren't any objectives and don't let me start about UML.

Designers and developers sometimes forget that there main public are simple people who don't sit on there computer all day. They don't care about cool animations, it only can confuses them. Simple people just look for a simple way to get information as fast as possible. But for some reason most designers and developers think that having allot of (interactive) functions is the right way, the more the better your website is.
And for some reason companies think that developers are excellent analyst, because if there is an analyst, it's most likely somebody with years of experience as a developer, what is strange because an analyst isn't a developer. It's like taking a baker with years of experience and hire him to build a house. He's probably good in making cement, but there it ends.

Simple works really great when it comes to business websites.

Another disadvantage of not having a good analyst in your team is that most websites aren't build solid, making them easly victims for hack attacks. My last name is D'haese, because of the single quotes I can easily test if there website is secure enough for a SQL injection. I lost the count of websites that where vulnerable to this, including Apple.com where I even got debug information and the query that was executed. Last one is EA (see screenshot), they just blocked my data. I was thinking about sending an e-mail but I'm probably easier of with a letter to this website (http://www.diversiteit.be/?setLanguage=3), then contacting EA about the problem. :-p