March 9, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Citimortgage text field for customer questions

Ryan A. MacMichael points out:

I went to ask a question of Citimortage through their web site and got the screen above.

So, wait... go ahead and ask a question, but don't use "non-allowed characters" like a question mark?!

See original post.

March 3, 2007 10:04 AM

Broken: Searching on The Huffington Post

I went to the Huffington Post and tried to search on "tiki" (since Tiki Barber gave a great interview on Charlie Rose last week).

But the search results page said this:

Got an error: You are currently performing a search. Please wait until your search is completed.

I decided not to wait around.

(Instead, on the second try it worked fine... except that the search results are pushed waaay down the page, below all the text ads. There are better ways of designing such pages.)

Broken: Islington shopping basket

From Larsz's Flickr photostream:

When you pay a fine online in Islington (a part of London), you have to add it to a shopping basket. (See the website.)

At least they don't use Amazon-style recommendations. Imagine: "customers who were caught speeding also enjoy parking illegally."

February 24, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Zune song transfer error

From Michael Meiser's Flickr photostream:

"Welcome to the anti-social." :)

February 16, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Association of International Glaucoma Societies website

Barbara Young writes:

I came upon the web site of the Association of International Glaucoma Societies and had to share it. I thought it was a spoof at first, but it isn't.

Check out the bobbing heads at the upper left, the flying-in heading, the spinning globe in the middle, and the staring eyeball that appears if you scroll down to the bottom of the left-side menu, and the fact that you can't get back to the home page if you leave it without using the Back button. Oh, and there seems to be no actual information about glaucoma on the site.

Another funny feature in this site is the "Glaucoma Hymn" , which is on the lower right corner of the site I dare anyone to download the "hymn" and listen to it all the way through. Here is an excerpt:

Glaucoma, Glaucoma, Glaucoma
Constricting vision slowly
Halted by progress of science
Vision of a world united
Beyond all science knowing

February 8, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: iPhoto popup

Which option tells iPhoto not to rebuild the thumbnails - "Rebuild Now" or "OK"?

C'mon, Apple, you can do better than this.

February 3, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Yahoo thesaurus page

The Yahoo thesaurus provides a good example of how not to focus a page on its primary goal. (How many dozens of distracting elements are on the page?)

January 27, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Amazon "see larger picture" option

Keith Klier writes in:

I was looking at a portable hard drive on Amazon.com and I wanted to show my wife a picture of it so she could get an idea of the actual size.

I clicked the "see larger picture" link, but found that the only thing bigger about the picture was the pop up window that contained the image of the hard drive - the picture of the hard drive was still the same small size it was in the original view!

January 23, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Sign with website url

David Barnes submits a picture taken in the UK:

I spotted this sign on a primary school display board with the website address UNCONDITIONALCOMPASSION.COM in all upper case, which is not broken in itself.

What is broken however, is that on the same sign, there is text underneath the url in all upper case that states "all in lower case."

Whoever printed the sign should have checked to see if web site addresses were case sensitive, (and they would have found out they weren't) before they printed the sign. It is broken to make people think that website addresses are case sensitive.

January 17, 2007 08:56 AM

Broken: Unsubscribe Request

There must a better way of designing an unsubscribe confirmation:

To unsubscribe [address] from this mailing list, click 'Continue'. Click 'Cancel' to keep your subscription active."

Broken: Nextel phone selector

Jason Sherrill points out:

When managing your phone's services at nextel.com, after logging in you are required to select your phone model from a grid of approximately 50 phones.

Unfortunately, the phones are not sorted in any alphabetic or numeric order. Furthermore, the pictures of the phones are tiny, so it's hard to spot your phone on appearance alone.

It's a real pain finding your phone on this page. Perhaps they could offer a simple alphabetic or numerically sorted drop-down list as an alternative for the users who know their phone model number - which you can easily see on the phone itself.

January 12, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Non-linked sitemap

Matt Baume points out:

I found this sitemap from the Millman Retirement Planning Center. It's a sitemap with absolutely zero hyperlinks. It tells you what all the names of the site's sections are, but doesn't provide any links to them.

January 10, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Cancellation process for the New York Times electronic edition

Brent Toellner points out:

This is a screen shot of my instructions when I tried to cancel my subscription to the electronic edition of the New York Times.

I registered for the paper online.  I read the newspaper online. Now, knowing that I obviously prefer the online experience, they want me to cancel my subscription via the phone.

An online option to cancel my subscription should be available instead of requiring me to talk to a customer service representative over the phone and then having to provide all of my information to them again, when all my information is saved on their website.

January 6, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Microsoft Excel "Help" for removing hyperlinks

Alexa Weber Andrzejewski writes in:

I've been battling hyperlinks in my Microsoft Excel documents (because in Excel, entirely blank cells and black text that does not look like a link can remain or become hyperlinked accidentally) and decided to search the Help documentation.

For removing a single hyperlink, you can right click and say "Remove Hyperlink" (which in some cases requires mousing over to actually locate the cells where your pointer becomes a hand, but it's a pretty reasonable method otherwise.) But to remove ALL the hyperlinks? Help says...

1. Type the number 1 in a blank cell, and right-click the cell.        
2. Click Copy on the shortcut menu.        
3. While pressing CTRL, select each hyperlink you want to deactivate.        
4. Click Paste Special on the Edit Menu.        
5. Under "Operation" click Multiply and then click OK.

What? First, this still requires finding and clicking on all the hyperlinks (just doing it to the entire spreadsheet doesn't work, and worse, makes a mess of some cells). But what really peeves me is that official Help documentation should have to contain hacks!

If it occurred to someone at Microsoft that this might be something users would want to do, why not fix the experience?

Of course you could always buy a $20 piece of software to do it for you: Excel Remove Hyperlinks Software 7.0.

January 3, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: DIRECTV online order form

Mike Bunnell writes in:

I recently ordered an additional receiver for my DIRECTV system - a free offer as a 'valued' customer.  When it came to the payment page, even though the order total is $0, I was required to enter a credit card before completing the order process. 

Just to be clear, by this point I had already logged in with my account information, and was provided this offer specifically based on my payment & service history. 

Too bad nobody thought to program that information onto the apparently standard ordering interface.

December 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Sprint payment kiosk

A reader named Marvin submits a picture taken in Los Angeles, California:

At the Sprint Store on 3rd and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, they have a kiosk in which you  can pay your bills by inputing your account information and inserting dollar bills (similar to a vending machine).

You can clearly see a keyboard and trackball, however the keyboard and trackball don't serve any purpose because all data is input via the touch screen interface.

What is the point of having the keyboard there if you can't use it to input data or navigate the system?

That being said, I wish the keyboard was usable, because touch screens aren't as easy to use, and are more prone to input errors.

December 26, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Wake County polling places list

Cheryl Smith points out:

Wake County in North Carolina only lists precincts with polling places in Excel format. Why couldn't the list be in html format so a voter could  immediately view and print the polling places?

December 22, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Bank of America state selection

Evan E. points out:

In the sign in section of the Bank of America website, if you live in Guam, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, you have to select "Alabama" as the state your account is in.

December 20, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Gateway ink monitor

Ronson Lamond writes:

Gateway computers come with software to remind you to buy ink cartridges for your printer. 

I received this low ink warning message for this printer called the Journal Note Writer - which only creates pdfs, which do not require the use of ink...I may have to run out and buy some digital ink soon.

December 16, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Epson Smart panel error message

A reader named Thales writes:

I received this error message "an unamed file was not found" in the Epson Smart Panel - the application that accompanies the Epson Perfection 2400 Photo scanner.

Also, what amazes me is the fact that they expect the software to be able to find a file without a name in the first place.

December 4, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Adobe error report form

Marsha Glassner points out:

When you submit a bug report form to Adobe online, they ask that you write them how to reproduce the problem.

Once you have taken the trouble to write up a detailed explanation of how you encountered the bug, and you are ready to submit your report, the form tells you *after* you have completed the description, that you are limited to a description of 2000 characters!

Also, just to add insult to injury, they end their admonition to any customer who isn't concise enough with an exclamation mark!

December 2, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Monster.com cover letter window

David Newton points out:

A few months ago when I was applying for jobs on monster.com, I had to go through the process of putting together and editing a cover letter for submission with my resume.

In the picture above in the red box is the window you get once you've chosen to create a new letter (the option for uploading one directly is, sadly, missing). Unfortunately, I had to edit my cover letter down in Word, because I couldn't really do it in the generous postage-stamp sized window that they're provided me with.

November 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: UPS credit card selector

A reader named Jason S. writes in:

The ups.com shipping website lets you select a credit card from your profile to pay for a shipment.

Unfortunately, if you have more than one American Express card in your profile and the 11th and 12th numbers are the same on both cards, then you just have to guess which card your shipping fees will be charged to since you cannot see the remaining numbers.

UPS needs to make sure this drop-down field is wide enough to show the full detail necessary to make this feature useful.

November 25, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Michigan State University Federal Credit Union online security option

David Mulder writes:

I saw this message when I logged into my Michigan State University Federal Credit Union online account:

MSUFCU announces TrulyU, a new ComputerLine security feature. TrulyU adds another layer of protection to your account. Due to the high number of ComputerLine users, a limited number of randomly-selected accounts will be set for enrollment each day beginning on October 18.

Great! A new security feature to make my online account safer.

Too bad I have to be randomly selected before being able to activate it.

Why didn't they just introduce the option to me if I was randomly selected for the option. Otherwise, don't notify me about the option unless it is currently availble to me!

November 21, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Mellon investor services signup

Andrew Midkiff writes:

There are several layers to this broken experience with signing up for Mellon investor services online. First, it starts with an envelope from a recent mailing telling me to visit " www.melloninvestor.com/isd." 

When you type that URL in a browser, you get a 404 "page not found" error.

I knew enough to try it without the isd and eventually found the URL at https://vault.melloninvestor.com/isd/Default.asp?PLID=MEL.

I didn't have an account set up yet, and so I needed to get a PIN. The next picture shows the way to get a PIN. So far, I was doing ok.

I then got the following picture which is the error telling me that I've either not gotten a PIN yet, I've entered an invalid investor ID number (entered incorrectly or used a social security number), or I've entered an invalid PIN.

The last bullet point, about exceeding the maximum login attempts, is confusing. Is it telling me that one possible problem might be that I've exceeded the number of log in attempts? or is it telling me that is the case? I'm not sure...

The only one of these reasons that can possibly be true for me is the second option - "You have entered an invalid Investor Identification Number (Investor ID)."  Since I know I didn't type in a social security number and a PIN had nothing to do with it since I didn't have one yet and was trying to get one.

So, I try again making very sure that I type in the investor ID# correctly. It's a 12-digit number with no dashes or spaces. I hit the button again, and get the same error.

I then tried to "Chat live" with a Mellon Help Desk Specialist and get the next image telling me that the help desk has gone home for the night. Why offer me the help desk live chat option if it isn't available!?!

Mellon investor services gave me a bum URL and the application failed when I did everything correctly. I even tried their site on both Firefox and IE, just in case, and it didn't work in either browser. Then they wouldn't let me get any help because it was 7:12 p.m, when most people are doing such investor-related things.

November 18, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: BestBuy.com store locator

(Best Buy fixed their store locator - it now shows you what stores are within the proximity of your zip code, it no longer re-directs you to the Microsoft Windows mobile page. Good job Best Buy!)

Nick Srinivasan writes in: I was on the Best Buy website trying to locate a store near my neighborhood. On the store locator page, after you input your zip-code under Store Locator and click "Go" to see the results, you are then re-directed to a Microsoft Windows mobile page.

The web developer must have forgotten to change a test link!

November 13, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Pie chart in eWeek article

Lore Eargle points out:

I was reading an article titled Outsourcing is Here to Stay in eWeek, and in the second part of the article there is a section that shows a pie chart displaying responses to the question - Is your company budgeting for outsourcing any IT activities to an offshore company in 2006?

Note the disparity between the numbers and the divisions in the pie chart on the far right - 65% is taking up less space on the pie chart then 35%.

November 11, 2006 07:40 PM

Broken: Food Network Search

The Food Network website has to deliver one thing, above all others: a decent recipe search engine. But the search engine is broken.

I searched for "chicken parmesan" and got...

- Penne with Sweet Potatoes and Fennel
- Minestrone with Crisp Parmesan Crumbs
- Grilled Polenta with Morel Vinaigrette
- Savory Spinach and Artichoke Stuffing
- Roasted Polenta with Garden Vegetables
- Butternut Squash with Thyme and Parmesan

... and the results page offered over a dozen more unrelated options before finally showing, at the very bottom of the page, chicken parmesan. (Spelling it "chicken parmigiano" was much the same, taking 15 results to get to an appropriate recipe.)

If I search for chicken parmesan, I'm pretty sure I don't want penne with sweet potatoes and fennel! Food Network should fix its search engine.

Finally, is it just me, or is it kind of gross to search for a recipe and see "New Excema Breakthrough" just beside the listings?

P.S. Of course, this isn't as bad as the New York Times' broken search results.

November 9, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: TIAA-CREF "Coming soon" email

Seth Green writes: I received this email from TIAA-CREF that reads - "Coming soon...TIAA-CREF's redesigned website."

"Coming Soon" messages are bad enough when you come across them on the web, but getting them in your inbox is especially not useful.

They should send you the message when the website is redesigned.

November 4, 2006 09:33 PM

Broken: Raw HTML in Apple popup

In Apple's iTunes, a .Mac popup reminded me to update my credit card.

In bold red letters, the popup reads:

Please check your spelling or go to .Mac to get a <a href="http://www.mac.com/" target="_blank"> free trial or sign up now</a>.

This is broken: Displaying raw HTML in a common popup like a credit card expiration reminder. Fix it, Apple!

Broken: Adding airtime on Tracfone website

Alex B writes in:

I use a pre-paid phone from Tracfone. To add minutes, you buy a card that includes a PIN, then you go to their website to enter the PIN and add the minutes to your account (some phones let you do this on the phone instead of the web, but not my phone).

Once you start the "add minutes" process on their site, not only do you enter the PIN from the card, but you also have to enter a lot more number sequences into your phone (each ranging from 15-28 digits). This is certainly a pain, but maybe it's necessary, so it's arguable whether the fact that you have to enter these sequences itself is broken.

The attached picture shows how it works - the next sequence you must enter is shown in blue, and sequences you've already entered appear above it, crossed out. Each time you confirm you entered a sequence, that sequence is crossed out and a new one appears below it.

But what is undeniably broken is this: Before you start, you aren't told how many sequences you'll have to enter, and each time you enter a sequence, the site never tells you how many sequences are left.

You just have to enter each sequence it tells you to enter, until you're done. It's a tedious process and by the time you're near the end, you aren't sure if it'll ever tell you to stop. This violates a basic principle of user interface design, which is that when you need the user to go through a sequence of steps, you must always tell them how many steps there are before they begin, and once they are in the process, tell them what step they are on.

November 3, 2006 12:59 PM

Broken: John Battelle's Searchblog: Rant: The Comcast HD DVR Is Simply, Terribly Awful

A good rant from John Battelle comparing TiVo and his Comcast DVR. From The Comcast HD DVR Is Simply, Terribly Awful:

I love Tivo. I have written about it here many times. I love its approach to user interface, I love its corporate attitude (I know it can't keep it up given the reality of the market), and I even love its shortcomings. It's the Macintosh of television.

And Comcast, Lord knows, is the Windows. And not Windows 3.1. Windows 1.0. Or worse, if there is such a thing.

Also see: Study in Comcast branding

(Thanks, bb)

November 2, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: CNN website default search setting

Joshua Shields points out:

The search feature default setting on the CNN website is broken. Sure, it has the same problem that all news sites are notorious for - that the search function has problems locating strongly relevant results in response to what you typed into the search box.

However, the CNN.com search has something else wrong with it. Like at most websites, you are given the choice to search just the website you are on or the entire web. What's broken here is that the default selection for the CNN site search is "The Web."

Therefore, *every time* I come to CNN.com, I enter something into the search box then I realize that I forgot to change the search setting to "CNN.com." So I have to start my search over again.

If I'm going to CNN.com, it is more likely that I want to search for an article on CNN.com, not the entire web. It would make more sense to make the search default "CNN.com" as opposed to "The Web."

October 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Best Western e-mail unsubscribe

Joe Rybicki points out:

Attached is a photo of the beginning of the ridiculously long unsubscribe form/survey that Best Western directs you to when you click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of one of the e-mails they automatically send out to anyone who has ever booked a room with them online.

Which of these options for unsubscribing would you be most likely to first choose?

1. Select this option if you do not want Best Western, its affiliates and subsidiaries (the "BW Companies") to communicate with you via e-mail about the Bestwestern.com promotions and special offers.

2. Select this option if you do not want the BW Companies' related travel partners to communicate with you via email about promotions and offers related to the Gold Crown Club International newsletter. (Includes monthly statement).

3. Select this option if you do not want to receive any communications via e-mail from the BW Companies or its travel partners regarding all Best Western and Best Western related promotions and offers. [Checking this box will mean that you no longer receive Best Western surveys, Gold Crown Club International communications, Best Western Travel Card communications and/or any other Best Western offers]

Which one do you think will actually fully unsubscribe you? Careful -- remember to check your work.

October 25, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Harris Poll navigation

Jeff Chausse writes in:

I was invited by Harris Poll to fill out an online satisfaction survey, run by Harris Interactive. 

It's a typical multi-page survey, but the "Next" button is on the lower left corner of the screen and the "Back" button is on the lower right corner of the screen -  the survey would be easier to use if the locations of the navigation buttons were switched.

October 21, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Windows Explorer error

Nick Paton points out:

Windows Explorer stopped responding and this window came up. The window presents reasonable options until the last choice - "Wait for the program to respond."

If the program really wasn't responding, it wouldn't magically start responding again. To make matters worse, if you click the "Wait for the program to respond" link the window disappears and than two seconds later it comes up again!

October 14, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Chevy Chase Bank e-statements

A reader named Kim points out:

Chevy Chase Bank just recently gave customers access to electronic statements online, but the list of statments is in order ascending by date. 

What are the chances that I want to see the oldest statment available to me? It is much more user-friendly to have the most recent statements at the top and the oldest statements at the bottom. I shouldn't have to scroll to see the most recent statment.

October 10, 2006 01:48 PM

Broken: Synopsis on PHC film website

I'm a fan of Prairie Home Companion - the show, the movie, and its host "GK" - but not of the film's website.

Just one example: the synopsis is shown in Flash text (ouch) in a scratchy typewriter font, in a tiny size, in light gray text, on a slightly lighter gray background,... and then faded, to look extra old.

I've seen poorly displayed text, but this is really a humdinger. The designers of this site really, really don't want anyone to read the synopsis!

Hey designers: online, the ink is free - how about some contrast, and size, on the text?

See also: Past posts on this topic - 1, 2, 3.

October 7, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Mobile Marketing Association search term limit

Roland Reinhart writes in:

I visited the Mobile Marketing Association Web site www.mmaglobal.com and found the site search function to be very odd.

The site search explicitly states "Keywords shorter than 5 characters will be ignored"

Well, typical keywords for mobile marketing include: SMS, MMS, WAP, PSMS, TXT, text - all of which are 3-4 characters long.

This just struck me as not very user friendly.

September 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Disney Interactive packaging

Jack Moffett writes in:

My daughter just received a software game called "Disney Princess: Magical Dress-Up" for her birthday from a friend. As soon as she unwrapped it, we checked to make sure it was Mac compatible. As you can see in the picture, the box clearly indicates that it is indeed Mac compatible, and lists the system requirements. The disc was also printed with a label indicating that it will run on a Mac.

Later, when I inserted the CD-ROM, there didn't appear to be any Mac files, let alone an installer, on the disc. I checked the installation instructions printed on the back of the envelope the disc was in, which said to run the Mac installer. I checked their support site, which also said to double-click the Mac OS X installer found on the disc. Perplexed, I sent an email to their support address. Below is the response I received:

Dear Jack,

Thank you for writing. The disc for The 2004 Disney Princess Collection was rebuilt to exclude the Macintosh side. Even though the Magical Dress-Up CD is labeled as being compatible with both OS's, it is only compatible with Windows.

This issue can be remedied by getting the Macintosh compatible version of the program. Once we confirm that you have the new version, (PC Only) we will send you out the Macintosh compatible version free of charge to you.  To provide us with that information please note the serial number on the top side of the disc.

Unfortunately, there was nothing resembling a serial number on the disc.

When a product is updated, its packaging should be updated as well!

September 23, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Officedepot.com product image

Creed Combs submits a screenshot taken from Officedepot.com's website:

The picture on this page is definitely a surge protector and not a Cat 6 cable like the site describes.

September 16, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Air New Zealand In-flight entertainment system

Jon Beattie writes:

Getting the Windows CE boot screen at 30,000 feet is a little broken.

September 9, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Verizon Blackberry support site

Ben Sjoberg writes in:

I was trying to remove an annoying signature that is attached to all outgoing messages from my BlackBerry.

A search on the Verizon web site gave me a seemingly simple solution: click the Options button.

I follow the link and log in, however the Options button is nowhere to be found:

I called Verizon tech support, and they gave me the same instructions about the Option button. After the representative realized that there wasn't such a thing, I was forwarded to level 2 tech support. Apparently they had recently changed their system, but the instructions hadn't been updated yet.

September 2, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Chase Online page

A reader points out:

I got this interstitial page when logging on to my Chase credit card account. The only option is to go to my account page, which is what I asked for in the first place.

I'm glad that the Chase site is giving me the option to not see this page again, but why did it show me this page to begin with?

August 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Universal Export dog decal ordering

Mark Nicely points out:

Both in their print ads and website, Universal Export arranges their dog breed decals by their order codes instead of what would be useful to a buyer - which would be alphabetically by breed.

August 25, 2006 12:04 AM

Broken: Dell keyboard-failure error

A reader points out a keyboard-failure error that instructs the user to type F1.

Uhh, striking a key doesn't work. That's why it's called a keyboard failure!

August 24, 2006 12:33 AM

Broken: New York Aquarium website

Laurie Kalmanson writes:

I went to the website of the New York Aquarium in Coney Island and read that "times are posted at the aquarium main entrance and plaza area."

So I imagined my visit to the aquarium going like this:

"Oh, look -- the sign says the penguins were fed two hours before we got here."

This is basic information a visitor would want to know, and should be available on the website so you can plan your visit accordingly.

Broken: HP's non-underlined links

On this page, HP shows black text (non-clickable) and blue text (non-clickable).

Only if you look really closely, or hunt around by dragging your mouse around the page, can you tell that the text in between those colors, the blue-black text, is clickable. Since it's not underlined, there's no other way to tell that it's a link.

I know it's declassé for Web designers to underline links these days. (Heck, I should just be glad the text is black, not light gray.) But underlining does have that small benefit of allowing users to see where the links are. Users... remember them?

August 19, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Hotel's Internet login

Erik Dahl writes in:

There are two things going on here:

1. On the left side there are three service types to choose from, all of which are free.

2. On the right side, the place holder text is still there:
<------------- Hotel text begins here-------------->.  

Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the free internet access, and I worry that next time I go back to this Liberty hotel that there will actually be text on the right side of the page and the internet access will be something other than free. </