A Little Web Usability Tip for Alltop
July 30, 2009
I’ve just registered for alltop.com. If you’re not familiar with it, Alltop collects headlines of the latest stories from websites and blogs that cover just about any topic. They group these collections on individual web pages and display the five most recent headlines (see below).
Alltop is the brilliant idea of entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki and Guy doesn’t need any advice from me. But I have some anyway.
A search for “User Interface” provides 48 results. Randomly clicking around, I start visiting some of the sites and blogs. According to their welcome email: “Once you’ve found a topic you like, click the + sign to add the website or blog to your page.”
WaMu is becoming Chase: Chase is becoming illiterate
July 13, 2009
I received my new Chase card in the mail today. As I peeled it off the letter and waited to activate it, I read the following:
As we combine our companies, you will begin to see many improvements – starting with your new Chase ATM Card. It replaces your current WaMu ATM Card and includes all the same convenient features.
Huh? So they replace my old card with a new card that has all the same features and call it an improvement. It’s exactly the kind of corporate double-speak that I was trying to avoid many years ago when I became a WaMu customer.
And then sadly, there’s the card itself. It doesn’t even look as if someone actually designed it. But that’s another issue.
It’s the new welcome page I found scariest of all. Note the headline:
We’ll soon make banking easier and get your money working harder.
FOR WHOM, I wonder?
It gets worse. They must really love “great service” and “convenience” at Chase (spent a pile on focus groups I’ll wager).
…you’ll continue to enjoy the same great service, with added convenience, including… Same great service. Even greater convenience.
I guess they know this page is so ugly and intimidating nobody’s gonna read it. No need to bother about the actual words: Just include lots of bullet points!
