Learning from "bad" UI (37signals on TripLog)

Very nice article. I'm in agreement with the sentiments of TripLog's author; the #1 impediment to this kind of data entry is convenience. The goal here is to have users spend as little time as possible using the application.<p>It could definitely use some improvements visually... but for that application, function should trump form if the two conflict.

Honestly, I think if the colors were just better picked it wouldn't look so awful at first glance. It's designed for speed, but that doesn't mean you have to make it bright and oddly colored.

One of the things I learned while playing Warcraft was the importance of scalable interfaces.<p>When I first started, I was lucky to get my character to move across the screen in a straight line. I didn't know what a mod was, I just wanted to kill squirrels.<p>By the time I joined a guild and we were raiding high-level instances, I had to have a screen full of mods that tracked every nuance of my characters (and raids) performance. Without them, I would have felt naked and nearly unable to play.<p>As developers, I think we often forget that folks go through a very rough period of learning how to use an app to being able to quickly navigate it. Once they hit the latter period, there would be no harm in offering them additional power.

I'm going to repost here what I did there, so sorry to anyone who reads both:<p>I’m sorry, but I’ve read his defense – and this analysis – and I still say FAIL . If speed’s the primary concern, why would you use the scrolling widget to enter the mileage? That’s going to be measurably slower and less accurate than a simple text field that pulls in the dialing/numeric keyboard.<p>My impression is that they’re operating entirely without user testing – their intentions are correct (make if fast, etc.), but they’re unwilling, unable, or too rushed to verify their decisions by watching people use various alternatives.

The one thing that stands out for me is that TripLog has inadvertently generated a ton of publicity (and maybe a bunch of people willing to offer free help). The next version will have a professional UI and sell a gazillion copies.

I'm begging 37signals to take a crack at an improved interface. Sure TripLog will get even more free PR but I'm really curious to see how they can improve it.<p>Put your UI skills where your mouth is.

The one thing I noticed from the Flickr comments, 37signals comments, and the 2 threads here is that there's a lot of feedback <i>from</i> programmers <i>to</i> programmers.<p>Fine. Lots of good data. Maybe even some that will go into product improvement. It's a necessary but not sufficient step.<p>What we really need is feedback from paying customers, legitimate prospects, and monetizable eyeballs. We can critique each other's stuff all day long, but sooner or later, we need to get this in front of the users.<p>There's a pretty good tradition here at hn called, "What do you think of my app..." There's usually a lot of good feedback, but don't get fooled into thinking this is anything other than pre-alpha.<p>After reading all of this drama surrounding TripLog, now I'm curious what the <i>real</i> users think.<p>(My customers always have additional and sometimes very different feedback from "hackers". One of their biggest differences is regarding the mouse. Some of them never want to touch it during heavy data entry sessions. Talk about something drastically changing the UI...)

"When we talk about “usable” or “intuitive” interfaces, Apple devotees and the web app crowd (myself included) tend to bias toward the first-time user."<p>The sort of thing that pains me, in so much as I will not always be a first-time user; my time as a first-timer is nothing compared to time being an experienced user.<p>I'd rather have to spend a bit of time getting going it if pays off in being able to do things fast and reliably down the line.<p>Ideally there should be ways to switch from the Newbie UI to the Old Hand UI, but most of what I see seems to forget that second part.

Well, all I can say is that I hope to release an app with this much free publicity one day. I'm sure it's going to help his bottom line.

I honestly believe a contextual UI for TripLog would be an order of magnitude easier to use.<p>Gmail makes GREAT use of contextual UI elements.

with all the furor, it seems like its only a matter of time until someone actually redoes this guy's interface for him.

wonder how many copies have been sold so far