Comments on: Twitter’s confirmation message is a usability fail

By: If Twitter and #fixreplies is about confusion, it’s a design error. « synset & skrevet & laget

Wed, 13 May 2009 20:36:08 +0000

[...] I also remembered that I read an excellent post about Twitters awful new notification bar. [...]

By: tagsmith.org » People first, everything else second- Matthew G. Knell

tagsmith.org » People first, everything else second- Matthew G. Knell — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:49:31 +0000

[...] were just about what I was doing. Heck, you still ask the question everytime I login. Your interface has changed a little bit, and gotten a little more AJAX-y. You changed your e-mail [...]

By: Whitney Hess

Whitney Hess — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:13:28 +0000

Renato, I certainly take your point and agree that at least they're
providing feedback where many sites do not.

However, it actually is not consistently applied throughout the experience.
On the DM page and most of the Settings pages, the confirmation bar appears
at the top. On the Notices settings page, the confirmation bar appears at
the bottom. After an Update is sent, no conformation appears at all.

Perhaps if it were consistent, it wouldn't feel as jarring and I wouldn't
have had such a negative reaction to it.

By: Whitney Hess

Whitney Hess — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:13:27 +0000

You very well may be right. This could be a performance thing. Still seems
oddly implemented to me, but I suppose they're doing their best to deal with
growing beyond the wildest expectations.

By: gruen

gruen — Sat, 09 May 2009 11:12:10 +0000

I don't think Twitter had that two-click functionality at launch. Because, at the onset, that's the first thing I would've tried.

Good that they've 'fixed' it now.

By: Lisa Rex

Lisa Rex — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:53:56 +0000

@ Renato, I appreciate that Twitter is providing confirmation feedback to users. We should applaud them for that.

@ Cennydd, if they are only doing it to slow me down so I don't return to the home page immediately, well, mission accomplished!

The navigation behind the confirmation bar is always clickable, which is good, but the opacity of the white bar obscures the navigation. It's disorienting, like suddenly driving into a wall of fog.

By: Matt Robin

Matt Robin — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:21:20 +0000

Yep – I howled about this one on the day it was launched! 'Where's the 'close' function on this pop-up?' I moaned. I seem to think the 'more' bar is okay, but this new feature is poorly executed. Twitter should re-think this one.

Also…'Trends' (in the side bar)…hmm, can't we disable it in user settings somehow?! ;)

By: Renato Feijo

Renato Feijo — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:31:11 +0000

Providing appropriate feedback to user actions is the design principle (or heuristics) being applied here. This principle isn't easy or straight forward to apply in web applications, due to the technology currently available.

Twitter's solution may not be as successfully implemented as it is the case in 37signals' apps, but it is a worthwhile attempt, especially considering that it needs to work consistently across the site, in pages such as the Settings page (informing that changes to your profile have been saved). In this regard, it's also easy learn and predictable.

As for the time it takes for the bar to disappear, maybe it was not designed for power users, who use Twirl or Tweetie instead anyway, but for more novice users, still feeling the waters as to what Twitter is about, and its underlying technology.

In brief, while Twitter's white bar may not have been particularly well designed, it certainly doesn't deserve being flamed like this.

By: Cennydd

Cennydd — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:53:29 +0000

I was always suspicious that this was a *deliberate* usability fail to protect performance. It's so ham-handed and clunky that I surmised it was intended to prevent people performing the tasks you mention – block the home link and top nav – until the system had a chance to “recover” and be ready for your input. Kind of the same way the signage in the London Underground is deliberately sub-optimal to ensure people take varying routes to the exit rather than arrive in a giant rush.

Citation needed obviously. Might be completely wrong, and perhaps this it would be even more evil than just poor usability.

By: supaspoida

supaspoida — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:53:58 +0000

To be fair, you can actually make it go away by clicking anywhere on it. That's what I meant by my two clicks comment. Still, two clicks is twice the number it should take for me to complete my objective! Adds up over time.