Here’s a really obnoxious piece of web design. When I go to eBay.com there’s a part where it greets me by my username. Right next to that is a link to sign out, and thus, not get that personal greeting. There’s also a part where it offers to sign me in so I can see special custom information.
Am I signed in? Or am I completely logged out? Are there two levels of signing in? Are there multiple levels of being logged out? There’s been a lot of talk these days about how some sites that aren’t really well-designed have a certain charm that would be lost if they were. I suggest that’s nonsense. Not only that, but poor design, especially of the information design variety, can actually hurt, or at least confuse, your users.
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Be Good Not Bad is all about really good web design, based on the utmost respect for web standards, accessibility and respect for the user. Based in Denver, Colorado, Be Good Not Bad is run by Brian Warren, freelance designer, blogger, homebrewer and coffee nut.
Yes, that’s totally what cookies are for, but I do understand the extra level of security offered by requiring login for any purchase. Here’s the thing though, and this is what I’m complaining about – don’t tell me on the page that I’m logged in and tell me I need to log in. Amazon kind of does the same thing, but they design it better. They don’t have that blatant contradiction of terms. Amazon says “Welcome, so-and-so, if this isn’t you click here”..
§ By Brian Warren at 10:36am on April 11 2006