Category: Bad Interface

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Sometimes good people are forced to implement interstitial pages–I get that. However, if you’re forced to do it, don’t make it worse than it needs to be. Take a look at this screenshot from Staples.
Staples Lightbox Interstitial
Rather than a full-on interstitial or a popup, they went with this lightbox type thing. Sure it looks cute, but in order to use any of the three functions they are pointing out, one has to click on either the “View Site” button or the close [X]. The two action buttons take a back seat to the big white arrows while the close [X] is misplaced and very hard to see. This makes for a frustrating user experience.

At minimum, they should close this lightbox effect when the user clicks anywhere outside of the lightbox popup. Alternatively, a more subtle tout or fly-in could alert users to the presence of the 1.5 minute “new staples.com” video.

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Take a look at this screenshot and ask yourself if there is anything that can be improved about the interface. Let’s see, it is simple and easy to read. It also provides clear and simple instructions. Wait a second, it is asking for an account number when one has obviously been entered already. It is not as if this is a short and easy number to remember either (the account number in the screenshot has been changed, but the number of digits are the same as the original).

To Time Warner Cable’s credit, at least one is able to easily create an online profile by which they can manage their account. All one needs to know is their account number and zip code. Hopefully they will have one of those numbers committed to memory.