2006 Hall of Fame & Shame

I'd like to solicit your input on a User>Driven Hall of Fame and Shame. The goal is to compile the top 10 usability triumphs and top ten usability gaffs of 2006 as nominated by you.

Take 10 seconds right now and think of the one thing (product, service, website, software, gadget, whatever) that really works for you, that's so elegant in its design and operation it must be the result of a good feedback loop between the product designers and its intended users. Write down your first thought in reply to this entry.

Then take 10 more seconds and think of the one thing (same list) that really irks you every time you have to use it because the product designer clearly did not take the time to think about how it would really be used or try it out on one real-life person before getting it to market. Write that down too and hit reply.

Thanks to Claire Gribbin for this excellent suggestion!  

My nominations

My nomination for a highly User>Driven item in 2006 is Shutterfly. They're not new. In fact, I've used them for the last 3 or 4 years. But I used this online picture card service twice this year and it saves me so much trouble, I think it deserves nomination.

The way it works is this. You upload your address book (.csv format from Excel, Outlook or even a text editor) and digital pictures you want to use. You can drag and drop individual photos into the browser from your desktop or upload whole rafts of files easily. You choose from their library of holiday cards, party invitations, photo postcards, or whatever. They merge everything and print them for you. They'll send them to you to address and personal notes or (and this is the great part) they'll address and mail them all for you to the people you choose from your address book. You can even add personal notes to individual cards for the people most special to you.

Even better, once you've given them your address book once it's always there, so next year at holiday time you just make a few updates, adds and deletes, upload a new photo and you're good to go. It took me all of an hour to get over a hundred holiday cards out this year. I also used it to send invitations to a family reunion this summer. This service is so effortless, my parents have started using it for their Christmas cards.

My nomination for a a product or service that is clearly *not* User>Driven in 2006 is the new Comcast DVR. I swapped this into my living room setup a few months ago when my ReplayTV started flaking out on me. I'd have gotten another Replay unit but the Comcast unit has two tuners so it can record one program while you watch another and it can record HDTV. (Yes, I got sucked in by the new features.)

When I first got the DVR, though, I discovered there was no search capability. The only way to find shows to record was to scroll through all the listings channel-by-channel and hour-by-hour. Not only did I have to know when the shows were on and on what channel, but I couldn't even jump from day to day. If it was Sunday and I wanted to record a show on Saturday, I had to scroll through every intervening hour.

A couple of months later I was delighted to discover Comcast had added a search feature. Customers had probably complained and Comcast must have listened! I was quickly disappointed, however, when I realized how poorly the search had been implemented. You can use the remote to enter up to five letters to search on, but they must be the first 5 letters of the name of the show as it appears in their listings. There is no search by actors, directors, description (as there is with ReplayTV), or any part of the name other than the first 5 letters. It's better than scrolling through listings, but not by much. The search features of TiVo and ReplayTV are so well-thought-out and usable by contrast, that it seems obvious Comcast did no research on the way real people would actually use the product. They had a request for a search feature and they provided one. And they probably are baffled at why they still get complaints about people not being able to find the shows they want.

To be fair to Comcast, it records well and I like watching the shows in HD. The interface is just so clumsily designed, though, that it annoys me every time I try to set up a new show for recording. And it could be so much better if they just spent a little time testing it with users. Hell, if they just copied their competitors I'd have no reason to complain.

Your turn

So those are my nominations. Now it's your turn. Even if your favorite product or service isn't new for 2006, if you used it this year, put it down. (I did.) Also, it's okay to simply vote for something someone else has submitted if you've actually used the thing they nominated. I'll rank the final top ten lists by how many votes they get (and/or my personal biases).

It's 20 seconds, what are you waiting for!

Comments

[Kinhong Kan]

The product that I really like is my iRobot Roomba. It keeps my floor clean, with the push of a button. A big time-saver after washing machine and dish washer.

The product that bugs me is the custom night guard that my dentist recommended. It is expensive ($500), uncomfortable, and I lost it after wearing it for 1 night. No - I didn't swallow it. I still wonder how I lost it.

[Greg O'Brien]

The product that works for me is Blogger.
I was able to create a blog in < 15 minutes. I like the fact that it can create and maintain a blog on your site as well as on blogspot.com. I use it as a way to capture radio/electronics topics that I have researched.

The real loser interface echoes Bruce's Comcast choice. The On Demand pages for Comcast's digital set-top box are hideous. The navigation is really opaque.
Once I have drilled down to a category, I have to exit the service to get back to the top levels.

[Matthew Miller]

My nomination for a product that is well thought out and integrated is the Slingbox. Sling Media makes the setup process quick and easy, even for the novice user, and the PC/Mac and mobile clients are a breeze to use.

I also completely agree with Bruce and Greg that the Comcast DVR software is very poor. I do use it with my Slingbox and do like the output from the DVR, but navigating and using the software is quite a chore and could be SO much better with a little work.

[Bruce McCarthy]

In honor of Christmas, I have to add another nomination to the Hall of Shame. My youngest daughter, Devon, got a toy set called the "Littlest Pet Shop." It's one of those kits consisting of a hundred little pieces that takes enormous effort to extract from the packaging.

I've run into these before and I groaned when I saw the back of the box with the twisted wires and scotch tape. It took me a full 45 minutes with a utility knife to undo all the twisted wires, elastics, and tape holding all the parts of the set into the packaging.

Some of the elastics wouldn't even come off and I was forced to cut the as close to the toy as possible so they wouldn't show. One toy cat with a large bobble head wouldn't stand up when not strapped into its spot in the pet shop. And the wings of a butterfly they provided droop flat on the table once you remove the tape that held them up to the plastic packaging.

What bugs me is that the toy manufacturers must use woefully underpaid laborers to hand-tie these things in place - just so I can spend my time undoing it all when I get the thing home.

But the manufacturer has inexpensively packaged the set so that all of the little pieces are attractively displayed and cannot easily be shoplifted, so they have no interest in my experience (or my daughter's, really) after the sale is rung up.

Not User>Driven.

[Claire Gribbin]

My good example is one in which the designers have clearly considered the context of the user. I nominate Netflix because it allows me to have an endless source of entertainment with very little effort and no stress. I can reduce down the endless sea of movies I hear about into a single queue. One (of the many) features that makes this possible, and which I'd like to highlight, is the "save" feature. If I'm flipping through a magazine and read a review for a movie that just came out, even if it isn't yet on DVD, I can still add it to my queue. I then never think about it again until it shows up in the magic red envelope. Good design reduces noise!

For a bad example, I'm going to echo the comments about Comcast. The only thing I can add is that we hate Comcast so much in my household that we decided to ditch it all together and up our Netflix subscription! I have to say that I am considering picking up an HD antenna, so we can at least tune in the major networks. I'll let you know how that goes.

[Robert Brazile]

The small set-top HD antennas (sold under different brands, Zenith is one) work reasonably well, provided you don't have a large granite hill between you and the broadcaster. (don't ask me how I know this.)

A small external UHF antenna, however, can make all the difference in the world. Antenna Web ( http://www.antennaweb.org/ ) is helpful in determining what kind of antenna might help the most

As for services I liked/didn't like: Flickr falls into both categories for me; I like its clean interface, but tasks that are very simple, e.g., setting up groups, are clunkier to accomplish than I'd like, and the affordances are sometimes hidden.

An example of an e-commerce site that I appreciate for its simplicity is Lee Valley ( http://www.leevalley.com/ ) which is nothing special, other than they got most things right by keeping it simple, and got very little wrong. The fact that they have good products and very good customer service also is no accident: it all comes from the customer focus of the business.

[Ben Brophy]

Inspired by your post I wrote up a detailed list on my site at:

http://www.benbrophy.com/item-detail.php?id=20070102162929

In short I picked Apple's iTunes TV subscriptions as for the Hall o' Fame and the MBTA's Charlie Card fare boxes for the Hall o' Shame.

[Bruce McCarthy]

Ben, just out of curiosity, on what device do you watch the TV shows you download from iTunes? On your PowerBook? A video iPod? And when do you watch them? On the train? At home in the evening? Alone or with others? Ever hook it up to your TV?

[Dan Guilderson]

Good: the steel headed hammer (multiple manufacturers) - In all the years that I've been using hammers I've never had one fail on me. Even the wooden handled hammers I've used have stood up to tremendous abuse without breaking. I suppose if you are determined to break your hammer, it can be done but if all you want to do is bang something, you are unlikely to have it fail on you. Hammers have an intuitive user interface. I have seen children as young as 2 years old pick up a hammer and successfully use it. Hammers can be used to good effect on tasks that they were never intended to do. Hammers age gracefully. Even an old, rusty hammer will still perform well. Hammers will still work during a power outage. Hammers work well in a wide range of temperatures (say maybe -80 to +200 degrees F). To be honest I don't know how cold it has to be before a steel hammer will shatter but I don't ever intend to work at that temperature so I'm not worried about it. Hammers are reasonably priced for the most part. You don't need to spend a lot of time shopping around for them. Even if you pay a little on the high side, you will not be sorry because you will get many long years of use out of it and probably you will be able to pass it along to your grand children for many more years of productive use.

Bad: The MBTA fair vending machines. They didn't even get the credit card swiper technology right which is unforgiveable. This morning a T employee opened the gates to let roughly 75 people onto the platform because the vending machines where such a disaster. Not only are the vending machines bad but the whole entire fair restructuring project was badly carried out. I truly miss the days when you bought your fairs from another human being (even when they were bunkered in a pill box).

[Dan Guilderson]

Fare (not fair)!

[Ben Brophy]

(re iTunes TV) Thing is that we don't own a TV, which I suppose is why this is such a groundbreaking product for me. We have a Mac Mini with a nice big LCD monitor in the place where normal people have a TV. We use it as stereo, a web surfing station, and as a DVD player. We used to just rent movies and last season's TV shows on Netflix and watch them on the Mini. In September we got a season pass to Lost and watched the episodes the day after they were broadcast, so suddenly I could take to people who watch it on TV without worrying about spoilers so much. Great stuff. I also buy the occasional Dora the Explorer for my son to watch on the iPod during long trips.

[Chris McCarthy]

My thumbs-up pick for 2006 is the Nintendo DS Lite. I don't have one; I have the original DS, but it is a bit heavy, so I thought the Lite was a better choice -- particularly as so many titles are usable by smaller people, with smaller hands.

I may envy the bigger screen and crisp graphics I see on the Sony PSP, but the DS is just so darn fun. The touch-screen input is easy to use, and yet I've never felt a lack of control, which is often a tradeoff for ease of use. The games I've played thoughtfully make use of the dual-screen design to provide maps and information you can access as you play. And did I mention that it's fun?

It was harder to think of a product I find truly irritating, but I've decided on the buttons that control my oven timer -- a small thing, but an everyday nuisance. The oven has a timer-set button that you use to input the time, after which you press the start button, which is also used to activate the oven itself. But while you use an off button to turn off the oven, you have to press the timer-set button again to turn off the timer. That is, you use the same button to turn on both the timer and the oven, but different buttons to turn them off.

I don't know if that's clear at all. But the point is, I keep turning off the oven entirely when I'm just trying to get the stupid timer to stop beeping at me. I've used ovens before, so I don't think it's just me. Someone just didn't think through how an actual user would work the thing.

Lastly, I'd like to agree that dental night guards are uncomfortable as well as pricey. Unlike Kinhong, though, I haven't been clever enough to lose mine yet, so I keep being expected to use the darn thing.

[Barry Coleman]

For my best I'd have to go with the Sugar Operating Environment and the laptop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. I'm so pleased to see that the design team didn't just try to make a cheap PC that can run Windows/MacOS and Office.

They have created a whole new operating environment that is simple to use, largely iconic in nature, inherently localizable, and with a small footprint designed to run on a low power consumption (and frankly low processor power) laptop that can be recharged using a hand crank. The operating environment is designed for kids and includes some neat ideas. Applications are called activities; the home screen shows you what activities you currently have active. Built-in wireless networking is utilized by the OE to allow for a neighborhood view (so you can see all shared activities by everyone around you) and a friends view (just see the shared activities of my friends) - including group chat. The is a simple word processor, a drawing application, sticky notes, and some simple games.

Of course, it goes without saying that the whole project is one of the most important in tackling the digital divide.

My hall of shame goes to CVS, who have the most terrible web commerce business I could imagine.

Over the Christmas holidays we had some FSA money to use up so my wife went onto cvs.com to order some medical supplies. She chose CVS on the assumption (false as it turned out) that we wouldn't pay sales tax (CVS does have 3 stores in California, apparently).

Now ordering anything medical requires a little research here and there, and an over-the-counter order can contain quite a few items (58 in our case). So she happily opened a new tab in Firefox and did her research and was interrupted by me asking her some question about where the wrapping paper was, or some such thing. After returning to the cvs.com site, she browsed to the product she had researched and clicked add to cart only to find that the cart now contained only one item. Yes, you guessed it they have the session timeout set to 10 minutes, even if you have no prescription items in the cart ($300 worth of OTC products in this case). The call center agent commented in a follow-up call that this was for "security purposes". When I pointed out that there was no security risk because we had no prescription items in the cart and hadn't yet registered with the site she said "Well, we do it for your security". Thanks for nothing.

So, to continue the debacle. My wife re-entered the order (fortunately the back button allowed her to see all the items in the old, obliterated cart). She progressed through the checkout process (registering along the way) and finally clicked the "Place Order" button. At which point the browser just sat there spinning and eventually timed out the request. So she called me from my wrapping task. I looked at the order history and it showed no orders, and yes, again you guessed it, the cart was empty. She was too mad to do it again so I recreated the order for her and the same thing happened. I called customer service immediately and was told they were only open 8.30am-10pm ET. So I placed the order on Walgreens.com and resolved to tackle the issue in the morning. I'd received no confirmation emails from cvs.com so I assumed the orders just hadn't been placed.

The following morning I called customer service (comment above from that call). The agent informed me that both the orders had indeed been placed. When I asked why I hadn't received a confirmation email she said "Well they probably haven't gotten to your order yet". This was interesting to me ... who was "they"? So I asked. Apparently, CVS order confirmation emails are generated BY HAND! Anyway, I obviously canceled my orders and CVS lost the business. This is a shining example of how not to conduct e-commerce.

[Aaron Perry]

Fame: Ubuntu Linux, which seems to be making a slow but steady run at the the consumer OS market (err, monopoly). Can't wait to see what the next couple of years hold for these guys. I still use Windows primarily, but I'm tempted....

Shame: New Hampshire. I know, not exactly new for '06. But I'm astonished that NH has the gall to charge tolls for the 14 total miles that I-95 cuts through the lower corner of the state. Conversely, MA charges no I-95 tolls for for its 60ish miles. Also, I can't fathom why they choke I-93 down to two lanes at the MA-NH border for about 10 miles and then expand it again to four lanes.......and then charge a toll. Again, no I-93 tolls in MA. NH highways suck.

PS: Don't knock the Comcast DVR too hard. When you put it in perspective, it's one of two mainstream devices in the country that can record premium high def content. Yes, the interface is horrible. But it costs a total of $12/month with zero commitment. And that's it. On the other side, Tivo charges you $800 for the box and then $13-20 per month (depending on the level of commitment, or a $200 transfer fee for your "lifetime" subscription), and then you still need to rent two CableCARDS from Comcast for a few bucks each.

Anyway, a little birdie told me that Comcast will be debuting their Tivo-based boxes this quarter. Hopefully we'll soon see an end to the Motorola interface.....

[Bruce McCarthy]

Aaron, is Ubuntu providing you things that make your computer more usable? Are they responding to your needs as a user? Is it as simple as providing all of the features you need at no cost or have they made Linux more accessible in some way?

I love the comments about NH highways. We went to VT via 93 in NH over Thanksgiving and, though we have Fast Lane, many, many folks don't and the NH tolls don't make it easy for people to queue up efficiently. We ended up stuck for 20 minutes in the run up to one toll only to haver the seas part when we got close and everyone was heading left or right away from the fast lane tolls in the middle lanes.

I am sticking with the Comcast DVR for the price and HD features, but I sure wish it was easier to use. I'd pay a few extra bucks for the TiVo interface.

[Aaron Perry]

Bruce, good question. Ubuntu has added several items aimed at solving historical Linux trouble points. For example they seem to have been investing in sorting out usability of wireless networking. I'll admit that it's often unclear to me whether these types of features are really Ubuntu or Debian (which is the root of Ubuntu) or otherwise.

Additionally, Ubuntu issues very frequent releases (6-month major releases) with the latest versions of most packaged apps and easy upgrades, which I think also plays into the concept of responding to the users' needs.

You know, while we're on the subject, the concept of "Live CD" is a real Fame example for me. This really started becoming popular in 05-06. Ubuntu, for example, allows you to evaluate its features by booting from a CD without touching the hard drive. It takes about 5-10 minutes in all to boot into a fresh desktop. Should you decide that you like it, there's a big INSTALL icon awaiting you on the desktop.

[Lars Jensen]

> Don't knock the Comcast DVR too hard.

I'd like to knock mine like a wrecking ball against the head of the Comcast CEO.

To be fair, let's start out on a positive note, listing the truly nice features of this wonderful device:

- HD recording.
- Two tuners.

Whew, that's quite a list! I thought my typing fingers might fall off towards the end there. OK, now let's tote up just a few top-of-mind ways that the Comcast succubus has drained the life force out of my media experience:

- Crashes every week or so.
- Software updates that actually make it harder to use than before the update.
- The most laborious Find feature in the history of TV-based viewing guides.
- Do you want "All Episodes" or "New & Repeats"? I don't know either...
- A Favorites function that sends me back to Channel 2 every time it's used (my actual favorite channels are in the 700 range, joy).
- No way to record only the Jon Stewart that comes on at 11pm, instead of the other 20 that come on that day.
- Channels listed as HD that aren't.
- After crashing, takes at AT LEAST a day to recover the program guide -- still wondering what demonic architecture could possibly account for that one.
- When temporarily cancelling a recording, sometimes cancels other recordings for no reason (apart from the reason that their programmers are from Elbonia).
- When temporarily cancelling two simultaneous recordings, it reactivates the first one! So much for maximizing free space while on a trip...
- No web interface to manage recordings while you are away (which ReplayTV had 8 years ago, despite NOT being an ISP...)
- No 30-second skip (admittedly this makes Comcast only one of several weasels in this area, but still, compare to ReplayTV).
- Pause and slow-mo buffer issues that cause frame-by-frame viewing to push the limits of one's nervous system.

Add a pathetic 15-hour HD recording capacity (with no option to upgrade, gee I wonder what Einstein product manager passed up that opportunity for more free revenue?) and the plain old butt-ugliness of the interface, and you have what has to be considered the hands-down winner of this competition by any reasonable ranking.

I too have heard rumors of TiVO replacing the Comcast box in 2007, but I've also heard that it will be not fully functional. Even so, it could hardly be worse than this hellspawn box that forces me to endure under its wretched lash.

[Bruce McCarthy]

Gee, its hard to tell whether on balance Lars thinks the Comcast DVR should be added to the Hall of Fame or Shame. ;)

Thank goodness I haven't run into the crashes on my unit. In fact, I decided to try out the Comcast DVR because my trusty ReplayTV had become unstable and was crashing and rebooting every couple of minutes during some recordings. Still, I wish for that interface back. It wasn't perfect, but by comparison...whew.

But what, Lars, if anything, did you *like* in 2006?

[Aaron Perry]

Lars, funny post. If I were you I'd check your power source or just return the thing. I've had two of these (different residences), spanning well over a year and I've ever seen a crash, nor have I noticed any mysterious cancellations. Maybe you got a lemon.

Also, here's a tip for you: the 30-second skip and 5-second rewind are available and can be enabled quite easily via the remote. AVSForum has this and a few other tips...... and it has a less "laborious" Search interface so good luck.

[Bruce McCarthy]

Matt, I've always admired the Slingbox from afar. What do you use it for in practice?