| Product |
Symptom |
| Adobe Acrobat |
Rewriting the (control) rules |
| AK-Mail |
Protecting users from themselves |
| Apple QuickTime 4.0 Player |
An in-depth review
Cross-platform terminology?
Life is like a box of chocolates... |
| Apple Sherlock |
It's a matter of apples and oranges, and apples |
| ASPack |
One of these tabs is not like the others... |
| AutoCad Mechanical |
Contempt for users? |
| Unisyn's Automate Pro |
Navigation Confusion
Trust us, our way is better
A question of faith
Who's job is it anyhow? |
| Banyan Vines' BeyondMail |
Title Bar Geekspeak |
| ccMail |
Enigmatic toolbars
A critical non-error |
| Classified! |
Time-Wasting Calendar Control |
| Click & Print Certificates |
The Style "Buddy"
Control confusion |
| Compuserve WinCim |
The Third Degree I
The Third Degree II
Only her hairdresser knows for sure
Coloring Books
Eh? Say again Sonny?
CompuServe Geekspeak |
| Contact Master |
Tabbed sort order? |
| CSE HTML Validator |
Flag Day! |
| CuteFTP |
No way out |
| Datastream's Demo |
Installation arrogance |
| Dialog32 |
Novice color mistakes |
| Drag And File |
Keyboard equivalents for icons? |
| Drawing Board LT |
Insane installation progress indicator |
| Dr. Zeuss ABC |
Challenging messages for children |
| Easy CD Creator |
Alarmist colors |
| Eudora |
Cute, but terribly unclear
Someone needs to get out more |
| Ewan 1.052 |
Can't see the forest through the trees |
| Eye Candy 3.0 |
No way out |
| eZip Wizard |
Hidden functionality
Wizard-enforced stupidity |
| Flexi |
Magnifying Glass Metaphor |
| FreeJava |
Holy Errors Batman! |
| Freeloader |
Trick or Treat |
| GetRight |
Convoluted tab navigation |
| GIF Animator |
Minor excess |
| GIF Construction Set |
It don't work that way anymore
Long file names? Better think ahead
You can't get there from here
Mixed signals |
| Homesite 4.0 |
Unnecessarily interrupting the user... |
| HP ScanJet |
Help is waaaay over there... |
| IBM Aptiva Communication Center |
Copping an attitude
Arbitrary Stupidity
Novelty for novelty's sake
Tab Addiction
No rhyme nor reason |
| IBM Audiostation |
Power metaphor
Won't you be my neighbor?
Of Lists and Broken Rules |
| IBM NetFinity |
Real estate woes |
| IBM RealCD |
Macabre Design
Even Pangloss would despair |
| IBM RealPhone |
Tooltip Abuse
A complete embarrassment |
| InfoAccess |
Breeding like...buttons |
| HTML Transit |
Why doesn't it do anything?! |
| Jaws |
Be careful what you ask for... |
| Jazz Jackrabbit 2 |
Geekspeak for the kids among us |
| JDeveloper |
Failure to think ahead... |
| Linux XFM |
Geekspeak that would confuse the geeks themselves |
| Lotus Notes |
(We needed to devote an entire section for it) |
| Macintosh OS |
Trashing metaphors |
| Mannesman Tally Printers |
A VCR-based printer? |
| Maxis SimCity |
Patience is a virtue |
| MediaBlaze 98 |
Gratuitous use of tabs |
| Microsoft Access |
Query-by-Confusion
Artistic Roulette
Control Anorexia
Functional Disorder
Jumping through hoops
Not enough information
Teaching bad design |
| Microsoft Access 95 |
"Are you really sure you want to do nothing?"
Go do it yourself!
A pissant speaks
|
| Microsoft Access 97 |
Inconsistent Distractions |
| Microsoft Data Link |
"Something is happenin' and we don't know what it is" |
| Microsoft Developer Studio |
Damned if you do... |
| Microsoft Excel 5.0 |
Rewriting the rules
"The confusing options are your fault" |
| Microsoft Exchange |
Who needs standards anyway?
Dueling purposes |
| Microsoft Explorer |
Exploring a cave without a light
Confusing icons
Hide everything or hide nothing
Top Secret Features
Changing the rules in the middle of the game
It's a clipboard - really
Where do I want to go? - Where am I?
Not undoing things that can't be undone
Nobody uses Help anyhow
Sorted, sort of...
Explorer's identity crisis
Interface Defragmentation
Guestimation
Go to...Where?!
Sickeningly sweet error message |
| MS Explorer Find Applet |
An in-depth review
Improperly tabbed dialog |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer |
A Toolbar-Thingy, Sort of
Adequate Control?
Inefficient Scrolling
Character-Based Interface Design
An alternative definition of success
Needless interruptions
Silly Toolbar Design
Missing Information |
| Microsoft File Manager |
Control Impotence |
| Microsoft Media Player |
Make mine a Chivas... |
| Microsoft Notepad |
Whaddaya expect me to do with it?
And now for somthing completely different
"We are wrong, but most users won't know"
Needlessly changing the rules |
| Microsoft ODK |
That's for me to know and you to find out |
| Microsoft Office 4.2 |
You want me to do What?! |
| Microsoft Office95 |
Do as I say, not as I do
Do as I say, ...sometimes
Suggest THIS! |
| Microsoft Office 97 |
Sickeningly Cute
Show and tell
Unncecessary Distractions
Dissention among the ranks
A misguided file dialog "fix"
Microsoft's Triple-Dog-Dare |
| Microsoft Outlook |
Too stupid to describe
Hiding what the user needs to see
Misleading conclusions...
So what's the question?
Useless progress meters |
| Microsoft Paint |
The last place you'd look
Toolbar games
Mixed signals
Blind Man's Bluff |
| Microsoft Visual C++ |
Counterintuitive spin controls |
| Microsoft Visual J++ |
Geek verbal skills |
| Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 5.0 |
Hiding information behind scrolling tabs
Making files just a bit harder to find |
| Microsoft Visual Studio |
Kafkaesque options |
| Microsoft Web Wizard |
The Third Degree, Version 2
Poor Short-Term Memory
No pain - no gain
Between a rock and a hard place |
| Microsoft Word 6.0 |
Faulty Assumptions
Special rules we won't tell you
Confusing tab structure
Inconsistent tab rules
Confusing multi-row tabbed dialog
How the heck should I know?
Things we couldn't fit elsewhere |
| Microsoft Word 97 |
Aesthetics over good design?
Rube Goldberg message |
| Microsoft WordPad |
Get a clue!
Memory-impaired |
| Midi Orchestrator |
Saturday Night Fever |
| Mindspring's Pipeline+ |
Oh, is that what you meant? |
| Mountain Menus |
A tabbed toolbar? |
| MsgBox Mayhem |
Bells and Whistles |
| MultiEdit |
The absolute worst tabbed dialog?
Unnecessarily alarming the user |
| Mustek's ScanExpress |
Lessons on how not to localize an application |
| NetManage Ecco |
Sort limitations |
| Netscape Communicator |
Truly "artificial" intelligence |
| Netscape Navigator |
"A, B, C, it's easy as 0, 1, 2"
Hieroglyphics, or just bad symbols
Lack of intelligence
Subliminal messages
Too much information |
| Norton Anti-Virus 5.0 |
Foreigners not welcome |
| NoteBook |
Back arsewards buttons |
| Oracle Lite |
Exploration Not Permitted |
| Oracle SQL*Net |
Mixing commands, options, and meanings... |
| OrderWriter |
Isn't it obvious? |
| OzWin II |
I'm a lazy programmer!
The wrong tool for the job
Get your thinking caps on! |
| Paint Shop Pro |
Unfortunate defaults
Changing the way you use the product
Flawed recall
Options where none exist
Singular messages
Bait & Switch menu items |
| PaperPort |
Expensive Error Message |
| PMC for Windows |
Pay no attention to us... |
| PowerBuilder 5.0 |
Delayed gratification
Misguided priorities
Programmed inefficiency |
| Popkin's System Architect |
How not to resize a form |
| PowerSearch |
We could help you but we won't |
| PeopleSoft |
Unscrollable Scrollbars |
| PGP 5.5 |
Cryptic instructions |
| Psychedelic Screen Saver |
Tabs on acid (and a response from its creator) |
| Quickbooks 4.0 |
Hey that's not what I wanted! |
| ReadPlease 2000 |
In-depth review of gratuitous metaphor |
| RealPlayer 6.0 |
...chicken or the egg? |
| ResSched |
Immediate-Action Menu Titles |
| RoboHelp |
No way out |
| Spidersoft's WebZip |
The insidious Hot Cursor metaphor
Necessary but hidden features
The problems with dynamic buttons |
| SQL-Windows |
Ambiguous Error Message
Hostile Menu Titles
Unhelpful Error Message |
| Team Flow Server |
"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" |
| Time & Chaos |
Intrusive, Unnecessary Interruptions
Curiouser and Curiouser...
I'M SHOUTING AND I DON'T KNOW WHY
We don't need no stinkin' access keys
Left-click context menus? |
| trueSpace 2.0 |
An in-depth review |
| Quicken's TurboTax |
Say what you mean...
Can it really be trusted? |
| Rational's ClearCase |
A particularly irrational question |
| Siemens WebWasher |
Scrolling withing tabs |
| Socket Spy/32 |
The "Matched Pairs" Metaphor |
| TransSoft's FTP Control |
A fork in the road |
| Typograf |
Where's Waldo? |
| US Robotics Install |
What I meant was... |
| Visual Basic 5.0 |
A lesson in inconsistency
Way too much time on their hands
Confidence inspiring messages
Progressive inefficency
"Something's going on...but what? |
| Visual Forms |
Can't we all just get along?
See the Invisible Man!
Errors = 1/Feedback |
| Visual Fox Pro 3.0 |
Hardware incompatibilities |
| Visual Labels |
Command Non-Buttons
Drag from Toolbox?
Painful Exit Procedures
Mandatory Right-Click |
| Visual Portfolio Manager |
Tabs in lieu of menus |
| Watcom C++ |
Metaphors need to be apparent
Mor atention needed |
| WebEditPro |
Stop Helping Me! |
| Webforms |
Confusing Multi-row Tabs
Landscape Artistry
Painting by Numbers
Unreadable Status Bar
Stressful Colors and Alignment |
| Windows NT |
Since when is success an error?
Stupid NT message |
| Windows95 |
An in-depth review
In-depth: Uncommon file dialogs
Artificial Intelligence?
So, is it a floppy or a CD?
Just assume it knows what you want
'Problem' where none has occurred.
Single tabs are not OK
Improperly grouped tabs |
| Who's Where? |
Backwards design |
| Windows Help Designer |
Unhelpful ordering |
| Woodworkers Estimate Helper |
The difference between us and them |
| xBlock |
"We're Number 0! |
| ZDnet File Finder |
The difference between this and this |
| Zoc for Windows |
Tab sheets extraordinaire
Why even bother with toolbar images?
Angry command buttons |
| (General) |
How many ways can you spell 'Find'
Color Stereotypes
Fetch Me Some More Jargon
Can we fit any more options?
Drop-Downs are Easy, Let's use More
Thank Heavens for 31-inch Monitors
Do As I Mean
Hey, this 3-D stuff is great!
Computer geek-speak
999 Beers on the Wall...
Say what you mean - or else
Stoplight Metaphor
Available Space Metaphor |
