I've been being a bit of a gadfly on AOL's "mail blog" and support forums for their new webmail "service." I wonder if they're going to take away my screen name?
I've had a netscape.net email address for years, probably since before Netscape was purchased by AOL. I use that email for most of the commercial websites I deal with, such as airline frequent flyer programs, NetFlix, Papa John's Pizza, etc. I added an aim.com address simply because I had an AIM ID for use in chatting to some friends. I use that address very seldom, primarily for job search related emails. A while back, AOL combined the Netscape and AIM mailboxes, so that everything ends up in the same inbox. This wasn't all that much of a problem, although it's confused me a few times when writing emails since the "from" address defaults to the AIM name. No major problem though. A month or so ago, suddenly they unveiled this new "service". It's some kind of AJAX-y application that is a giant mess of usability miscues.
- They show the contacts list in a panel on the right side of the screen. You can't not see this panel, although it can be closed. But closing it creates a tiny vertical strip on the right side of the screen, outside of the scroll bar. So if you slam your pointer to the side of the screen to click and skip down a page, you are just as likely to re-open the contacts list. In addition, the contacts list was fully populated with the return address of every SPAM sender that I'd ever received, including those that AOL itself had automatically filtered into the SPAM folder. As if I'd really need access to those addresses again. Supposedly this last thing has been fixed, but let's revisit that whole fixed thing later.
- On startup, they also show a "Today on AIM" screen that covers more than half of the inbox. You can "hide" this window (or "curtain" as they call it), but there is no way to make it not appear at all. One of the developers who posts to the mail blog says it's because it helps to pay for this free service and that "all webmail has something like this." I would imagine that the ten other doubleclick.net ads on the page might also help pay the bills. In any case, I most extensively use gmail for my webmail. I don't see any "curtains" blocking my view. There are no ads at all on the main inbox page. Yes, there are ads when I read individual messages, but they are unobtrusive, they don't block half my screen. I also have a Yahoo email, which I mostly access via that My Yahoo page, but just for kicks, I checked the mail.yahoo.com page. Ads yes, obstructing curtains, no. So I'm at a loss to know what "all webmail" this guy is talking about.
- This "service" often automatically updates itself, leaving one with a screen that says "your webmail has just been updated!" Well, whoopee. Why is a web page acting like an application? Why does AOL still want to get its sticky tendrils all over my computer? Isn't it bad enough that the AOL client was like an evergrowing fungus that became impossible to remove? Now a simple web page has to try to take over? I have also seen reports that this automatic update feature will happen even if one is in the midst of composing an email, and when it's done, your partially composed email is gone. Nice!
The initial question I asked on the mail blog was "did anybody do ANY usability testing on this?" It seems like a bunch of developers are sitting around, adding features that are "cool" with absolutely no regard to how this will affect users. I posted several instances of poor usability (including the above items). To his credit, the developer who runs the blog did respond, but then again, he said that I should move my "tech support questions" to the support forum. Of course they're not "tech support questions", but I did anyway. And then I blasted them for having a VERY poor design and not having tested it. Somebody on the blog said "why can't the 'send' button be easier to find?" That's a
design and usability issue. The thing about the contacts list adding spammers? That's a
design and usability issue.
When I was first blessed with this new application, I tried to find ways to not see the contacts list or today curtain. There was nothing in the configuration settings. I also wanted to be able to
sort the contact list. Again, nothing. Now supposedly the sort thing has been added to the config. But
How would I know that? Am I supposed to re-check the config screen every single time there's an update? That's a design, documentation and communication problem.
Bottom line, AOL has released a very early BETA product onto their whole user base. It's not labelled as such, but the frequency of updates makes it very clear that this thing was NOT ready for prime time. They've also announced that they will be releasing a "lite" version for "people with older computers or browsers." Way to know your user base there, guys! Again, one of the principle of usability/design is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.
