Rachel M. Murray
Removing a Connection Shouldn't Require This Much Effort, LinkedIn
The problem is that when you're a market leader - like LinkedIn is, for job searching - you get a little complacent and kind of stop listening to your users.
I've been a loyal user of the site for a long time, and in general, it works. But I resent stupid UI problems, especially from companies that should know better and are SaaS companies that depend on the Web as their medium. I especially resent them if they haven't been fixed as the company tried to make their site look more Web 2.0-esque in its interface. I know with a freemium model you don't think you have to care about your non-paying customers, but really...
It takes about 3 screens to delete a contact in LinkedIn - and even then, sometimes it doesn't even work. Maybe if LinkedIn concentrated on basic UI concepts like 'deleting' in a simple way instead of having to have an AJAXified Connections interface, people like me wouldn't get frustrated. That sets a standard - 'oh, don't worry about that, the users don't mind that extra screen' - that a startup like Facebook and its ilk feel they can not care about. A good company that cares about its customers and users - and its Web site - will do *everything* it can to eliminate time sinks for its users, and not sacrifice its UI design for the sake of looking 'modern'.
And while you're at it, please don't prompt me to enter in useless information. LinkedIn asked me if I wanted to share my marital status - never mind that it's unethical, and in some cases illegal, for employers to be asking for it. I'm not asking companies to do anything other than use common sense - is that unreasonable?
Removing a Connection Shouldn't Require This Much Effort, LinkedIn
The problem is that when you're a market leader - like LinkedIn is, for job searching - you get a little complacent and kind of stop listening to your users.
I've been a loyal user of the site for a long time, and in general, it works. But I resent stupid UI problems, especially from companies that should know better and are SaaS companies that depend on the Web as their medium. I especially resent them if they haven't been fixed as the company tried to make their site look more Web 2.0-esque in its interface. I know with a freemium model you don't think you have to care about your non-paying customers, but really...
It takes about 3 screens to delete a contact in LinkedIn - and even then, sometimes it doesn't even work. Maybe if LinkedIn concentrated on basic UI concepts like 'deleting' in a simple way instead of having to have an AJAXified Connections interface, people like me wouldn't get frustrated. That sets a standard - 'oh, don't worry about that, the users don't mind that extra screen' - that a startup like Facebook and its ilk feel they can not care about. A good company that cares about its customers and users - and its Web site - will do *everything* it can to eliminate time sinks for its users, and not sacrifice its UI design for the sake of looking 'modern'.
And while you're at it, please don't prompt me to enter in useless information. LinkedIn asked me if I wanted to share my marital status - never mind that it's unethical, and in some cases illegal, for employers to be asking for it. I'm not asking companies to do anything other than use common sense - is that unreasonable?