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Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

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Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#31

Post by ubernostrum »

autarch wrote: post #6

I'm sure _most_ Facebook users don't do this, but enough do to make for great hilarity in this particular case. This is all hilarious, but there's no reason to assume it's statistically significant.

Seeing as this phenomenon -- even to the point of people literally typing URLs into Google and then clicking the first result -- is old, well-known and well-documented, I'm gonna guess you need to broaden your usability reading.

Here, for example, is an article from 2007 pointing out that the top search term on Google was... "Yahoo":

http://www.dailydomainer.com/200742-yahoo-top-search-term-on...

Here's Jeremy Zawodny in 2008 musing on the fact that people neither know about nor understand the address bar:

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/010453.html

I could go on like this for a while, but the takeaway is that if you know what your browser's address bar is for and actually type URLs into it, then you're probably in a small minority of web users.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#32

Post by thaumaturgy »

fragmede wrote: post #27
thaumaturgy wrote: post #10

My current primary business is IT consulting, which really means that I spend most of my time working face-to-face with people that have trouble with computers and technology in general. So, this kind of behavior isn't news to me. In fact, I've tried often to convince the tech-savvy that most users have problems like this, and I've never been all that successful. The RWW "Facebook login" is great from this standpoint…

I'm a terrible cook, but if I was baking a cake, and used laundry detergent instead of flour (I mean, they're both white and powdery...) I'd absolutely deserve any comments about my (lack-of) intelligence. The "News results for facebook login" section on Google is very clearly marked, with, umm, well theres a picture, and a bit of indentation? In this case, I must lay some blame on Google for putting laundry detergen…

This isn't Google's fault. In Firefox, if you type a non-address directly into the address bar, it automagically directs you to the top Google hit for that query.

The real failure here is Mozilla, for releasing a "feature" that, as usual, appeals to computer power users, and royally fucks over computer novices.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#33

Post by steveklabnik »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #9
jrockway wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't get too excited about Internet entrepreneurship. In order to be successful, you have to appeal to this type of person. And I don't want to. (Is there even a single comment there written in correct written English? I don't see one; everything is misspelled, mis-capitalized, or just plain incomprehensible. Depressing! So very depressing!)

Part of my daily-ish rounds of the interwebs is http://failbooking.com/ What some people do in public without even realizing it is truly hilarious.

Someone recently pointed me out to http://stfumarrieds.tumblr.com/ , which is mostly Facebook. Still hilarious.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#34

Post by ubernostrum »

See also this somewhat-infamous post from 2002 which, because it discussed Maury Povich's show and ranked somewhat highly for a relevant search term, was assumed by many people to be the official site for the show:

http://www.laze.net/fait/archive/2002/07/28/maurys_blooper.p...

Another example is mentioned here:

http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2004/04/14/the_march_of_t...

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#35

Post by joshwa »

MrRage wrote: post #29
isleyaardvark wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But, she's totally lost on Facebook." Is that really so bad, though? I don't know about anybody else, but I've never liked the Facebook UI. I always thought it was a confusing mess. Lite Facebook is about as close as they've gotten to something user-friendly. Granted, that's a bit different from the ridiculousness involved with the RWW post, but they're already trying to log in to a confusing website that has been c…

Second that. For instance what's the difference between "Top News" and "Most Recent"? They seem to display the same stuff in a slightly different order. I'm a computer programmer and have masters degree so I don't think I'm dumb...

Most Recent displays EVERYTHING (like News Feed used to). Top News filters things by ann algorithm that weights by the amount of comments/likes, among other things.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#36

Post by patio11 »

natemartin wrote: post #5
jrockway wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't get too excited about Internet entrepreneurship. In order to be successful, you have to appeal to this type of person. And I don't want to. (Is there even a single comment there written in correct written English? I don't see one; everything is misspelled, mis-capitalized, or just plain incomprehensible. Depressing! So very depressing!)

Of course if your app is aimed at educated people, such as a tool for engineers, you get a nicely self-selected group and can avoid these problems. But you'll never get to facebook-level with a niche audience like that. It certainly avoids some of the problems with dealing with stupidity though.

Educated people... can avoid these problems.

I have a user population with 50% masters degrees which disagrees with you. Violently.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#38

Post by thaumaturgy »

Groxx wrote: post #28
thaumaturgy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As my Cordon-Bleu trained chef friend likes to say, Stuff That Comes In A Box Is Not Cooking! Are you really that positive that there is no subject which is so baffling to you that you wouldn't even attempt to diagnose something related to it? 'Cause I've met plenty of programmery-types that don't know a fuel pump from an alternator, and when their car breaks down, they're as stuck as everyone else. You're ignoring t…

So, to them, the directions, or that pop up, is just more words on the screen. It's one of the main problems with user interface for the really tech-inept. It's a fundamentally hard problem, because you don't know what they're expecting, and you can't predict it 100% of the time. That said though, most programmery-types are problem-solvers at heart, and would be looking for information when their car broke down. Many…

Yeah. I get where you're coming from, but my attitude's changed a bit over the last couple of years because of my business. I now think that most of those people aren't really uninquisitive, they're just busy. They have more pressing concerns than some new tech toy or gadget.

I've even noticed myself getting to be that way, which I don't like. For example, when Windows 7 was coming out, I didn't think, "Oh neat, something new to try!" I thought, "Oh goody, a whole new batch of problems coming my way."

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#39

Post by pyre »

ehsanul wrote: post #30

It is interesting though that many of these lost users were able to find the comment box and leave a comment. Perhaps that's something they've learned from Facebook?

They logged in using "Facebook Connect" (i.e. the Facebook OpenID-type thing). So they scanned the page looking for their login, and found a Facebook logo so they clicked on it and logged in. Then they were just presented a comment form so (apparently) they assumed it was the only action they could take.

Re: Daring Fireball: "Facebook login"

#40

Post by Tichy »

isleyaardvark wrote: post #18
thaumaturgy wrote: post #10

My current primary business is IT consulting, which really means that I spend most of my time working face-to-face with people that have trouble with computers and technology in general. So, this kind of behavior isn't news to me. In fact, I've tried often to convince the tech-savvy that most users have problems like this, and I've never been all that successful. The RWW "Facebook login" is great from this standpoint…

"But, she's totally lost on Facebook." Is that really so bad, though? I don't know about anybody else, but I've never liked the Facebook UI. I always thought it was a confusing mess. Lite Facebook is about as close as they've gotten to something user-friendly. Granted, that's a bit different from the ridiculousness involved with the RWW post, but they're already trying to log in to a confusing website that has been c…

Same here, I totally can't find my way around facebook.
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