Example
6: Forms, two study case; Swisscom & Swiss Bank Extranet
Site: Not available (one has been, fortunately, improved, one
is in a protected area)
Date: 20 october 2003
The case:
Case a) Swisscom: The objective of the
form is to determine if your contract is aligned with your actual
usage. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to fill in the form
since it is lacking (big time !) of consistency. Column entries
are not always described, units (for the time column) are not
visible, so you don't know if you have to enter hours, minutes
or seconds, and while you enter time for a specific time range
of the day, you don't enter corresponding amounts...
Not to mention the spelling mistake ("préstation"
instead of "prestation").
As a result, a normal user will probably have to spend more
than 5 minutes on this form to find out, which is far too much
! The user will then probably interpret it as "Swisscom
is providing you a way to optimize your contract, but actually
doesn't really want you to do so..." Bad ROI, isn't
it ? Fortunately, and to the credit of Swisscom, it was removed
and a new (4 step) process has replaced it (see it at http://www.swisscom-mobile.ch/sp/7NJAAAAA-xsp-fr.jsp)
Case b) Extranet Swiss Bank: The objective here is to provide
the necessary information to initiate a payment. The very
good point about this form (and the related process) is
that the number of entries has been minimized to the lowest
level. The bad point is that using the "tab" key will
lead you to the field at the right first, then back to the left,
and then down... Since users usually read from left to right
and top to down, it breaks the common rule of reading directions
(and by extension filling in forms)...
Errors / Recommendations:
Case a) Well, the very bad form has been replaced by a 4 step
process... It's now more complicated. I leave it up to you for
testing... and making recommendations
Case b) Just reverse the order of field to be filled (click on the thumbnail to see it)
Screenshots (click to enlarge in a new window)
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Swisscom
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Swiss Bank Extranet
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