Mar 19 2015
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Keeping up to date..

With every new release of software for iPad, iPhone and other devices I find that not all applications are keeping up to date. One would assume that when the device software is ready for distribution that the more common applications have tested and applied any modifications needed to ensure that the user experience for the customer is not afFected. Many are lacking in ensuring that this is the case.

Who is to blame here, the device software distributor or the application software team?

I believe that it should be the responsibility of the application owner to ensure that their software is compatible with new releases, there is nothing more frustrating than an app that no longer works and by the way you application owners there are tools available that should make you aware that the application is not working as designed….check it out!

@linkedin

Oct 01 2014
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Retail

UX Chapter 4 – @JustFabOnline

Thought it appropriate that today being the first of the month and I received a reminder that my boutique is ready that I should review @JustFabOnline.

I like the concept @JustFabOnline, I get a personalized Boutique based on my style preference and that makes my life so much easier. Congratulation to @JustFabOnline because I don’t have to provide my email information to just browse. I do have to be a member to have a search option, seriously? The search is very limited, try searching for ‘brown boots’ , the search requires a name, I am expected to know the item name to search, how usable is that?

Early morning on the first seems to be a problem in getting access to the site, whats up @JustFabOnline too much traffic? I tried using different devices and confirmed that my internet connection was working and could easily access other sites. At 10am ET a message on the web site tells me that maintenance is being performed. Bad Planning @JustFabOnline or an incorrect message? If new boutique messages are being sent for the first of the month you would want to make sure that there in no interference and should anticipate higher volume of traffic on the first 5 days when your customers are expected to use the site to make purchases. BTW this is not late night shopping for me on the East Coast, given that the company is on the West Coast it appears that the assumption is that the customers are also on the West Coast, come on this is a web site reaching multiple time zones! An hour later and we are back up and running.

I like the ease of use of the web site, the hover over function is great and gives you a nice alternative view of the item. The color switching is also a really nice feature. Browsing is relatively easy, might want to look at consistent labeling. Wish there was a search.

No problem with a different experience on the iPad seeing as there is no application, @JustFabOnline, any plans? The browser worked just fine.

Overall a good experience using this site. Kudos @JustFabOnline

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Sep 30 2014
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Retail

UX Chapter 3 – Flash Sales

I am the type of person that likes to touch and try on items of clothing before making a purchase so it took me some time before I was comfortable with buying online. I have always been a fan of stores like @TJMAXX so was very excited when I found sites like @Hautelook, @RueLaLa, @Gilt, @ideeli, @JustFab to name a few and oh boy what an eye opening experience it has been.

My initial disappointment was that most of these sites want you to become a member before you can browse, no no no! I don’t want to give you my information so that you can use it to target me in marketing your site and products. I would like to browse and if I find something that you have that I cannot live without I will be happy to provide my information to you.

My second disappointment is that I need to know what label or designer I want to shop, I am an average consumer and don’t shop by brand but rather by necessity. Please give me an option to browse all ‘buckets’ for those brown boots I need. You have all the data and I am sure can develop a friendly search option by tagging the items, it is not rocket science. I am prepared to spend money if the look and fit is good regardless of the brand name or designer.

My third disappointment is the time ticking by in front of your eyes. Why do I need to have a time limit? I understand that some people are motivated by a ‘Flash Sale’ and will drop everything to buy it now! but I am a working woman and cannot always get to my computer to get to that sale that is ending in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I might be in a meeting. My life revolves around time management and I do not want my shopping experience to be time managed as well. It causes my heart to race and I have felt the disappointment when the item I looked at is no longer available.

I suppose you might say that these sites are not for me…a pity, I have shopped a few and been happy with my purchases when I was able to ‘get in on the deal’.

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Sep 29 2014
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Career Sites

UX Chapter 2 – In Synch?

All I ask is for a consistent user experience, is that too much?

As we design and create applications for mobile devices the one common trend I see (it drives me crazy!) is the inconsistency between the experience from one device to the other. Take @LinkedIn for example, I have the mobile app on my iPhone and on my iPad and I use the desk top version. All three applications show different information on the Home page at any given point in time, despite the time that an update was made being visible on the page it does not seem to be used. On a mobile application i would like to see the most current information first but it is not what the iPhone version does. Now on my iPad it does seem to order by time.

On the topic of the iPad version @LinkedIn the application does not scale and posts are cut off on the left. It certainly looks like there is sufficient real estate to make the space bigger, it looks great on the iPhone. My other pet peeve about the iPad version is the “Who’s viewed you” option. I think it is great that if available you can see the faces and the count of people over a number of days, when you go into the detail it is not in synch with with the home page. It takes a few clicks before it synchs up, I find the desk top application much more accurate.

On to the desktop version and features. I love the fact that there is an algorithm that shows me where I would be in compared to other applicants, wouldn’t it be great if @LinkedIn could define an algorithm that would be able to match your profile to the job where you would be in the top 50% for the job seeker?

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Sep 28 2014
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UX Chapter 1

After many years if using a lot of very popular and not so popular web sites I feel compelled to get the word out to the UX designers and developers about what is great, not so great and what would make my user experience of their sites just awesome. My hope is that you will add your voice to my blog and that these corporations will pay attention and make some changes that will delight us as customers.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like a review of your site before I happen upon it in my day to day web site reviews.