Am I the Internets First Curmudgeon?

[Peace Alliance]

Obviously not, but I'm I get so sick and tired of bad websites that lately I've been sending them nice little emails about how they could improve. Usually this is constructive and kind because I wouldn't bother sending it to a website that I don't often visit (and I tend to visit websites that i /like/ even if they're poorly designed).

But today I finally lost it on my university website. It is the worst, most horrible piece of junk website the world has ever seen. I'm trying to get my "audit" figured out so I know when the heck I'm graduating. Who knew that part of a university education was to decipher websites designed by idiots? The audit has 3 different keys, each explaining different acronyms. It also has images that don't load, it's about 300px wide and 4000px high, and it doesn't scroll properly. It doesn't support google chrome, barely supports firefox, and I often have to resort to dusting off IE just to get it to load properly. It also for some absolutely unknown reason, uses Java!!!

So I sent them off an angry message through their survey. Figured some of you might get half a kick out of it:

Your web service is the most unusable, and unintuitive piece of garbage the internet has ever known.

Constructive criticism? Scrap the whole thing and hire somebody qualified to design websites and create a quality user experience.

I have tried for years to get the information I need from the Audit, Carleton central, etc, and I always waste hours of my day trying to figure out what the hell is going on. This is not because I'm technologically inexperienced, it is because your website does not have any logic to it what so ever.

As I write this I am trying to pinpoint a few examples, but there are too many. Even this survey is poorly designed. It asks my which "type of service" I am responding to - I chose "web site" (which has been spelled as 1 word probably since 1998, so I don't know how old this survey is). Then it gives 4 questions, 3 of which are about person-to-person services - obviously completely useless questions since I'm telling you about /websites/.

Maybe you don't get many complaints, but don't assume that is because you have build a great website. You are in a position where your users are required to endure your poorly designed web service. It is the only way they'll get through university. But you've taken advantage of the relationship you have with your users. If you had to design a website that /attracted/ users, this would not be what it looks like. You would have had to figure out why you can't retain web traffic, and you would have hired a proper consultant who would have told you exactly (although probably with kinder words) what I'm telling you right now. SCRAP IT!

[edit] As I hit the send button on the survey, the server timed out. I tell firefox to resend the information, and the website loads to the main page... I don't even know if the friggin thing sent!!

[Briar]

Maybe send it again then? Prefacing with an apology if it is a duplicate?

[Muse]

That's hilarious. I so want. to see their reply

[Holby]

You never give them an example of what's awful about it, so they'll just think you're crazy. There's nothing for them to take back to the designers, other than your contempt for them.

[Peace Alliance]

I know, and I didn't really intend to give them something constructive. The website is irreparably flawed. I'm sure I could give them a lengthy review, but that's the job of a consultant. I was just blowing off some steam. I've been fighting with their stupid website for 3 years. If I didn't /have/ to, then I would never touch that website again. As it is I've injected my own CSS into every part of the site that I frequent, but that only fixes some of the visual errors. Time well wasted.

Frustrating still when I think of how useful the website could be. Navigating university is complex, there are a half dozen things effecting you at once. Yet instead of trying to make sense of everything, the website effectively confuses things. I usually end up scheduling an appointment and talking to a human. Imagine that, a human!

[Wolf Snare]

haha pretty entertaining.

You attend Carlton?