Hotmail, you’ve got issues.
Clearly, some people up there at MSN design compartment have some issues…
Let’s set aside the fact that Hotmail uses the horrendous storage limit of 2MB (seriously, what are they thinking, especially when other free e-mail providers give 1-2 GB minimum, see Gmail and Yahoo!). Let’s set aside the fact that recently, the almighty Hotmail spam filter went absolutely nuts and keeps repeatedly blocking all my absolutely safe e-mails ‘just because’. Let’s set aside the fact that …well… it’s Hotmail.
Have you ever noticed the way this service is designed? It defies one of the most important rules of design : people in general tend to look at a webpage from top to bottom, from left to right (that goes for non-arabs). That’s why most web designs utilise the top-left corner, the first thing a user notices upon entering a web page, to display company logos. That’s right, most of us look top to bottom, left to right. Keep that in mind.
So let’s have a look at Hotmail design issues :
1. Important assets as “Options” and “Help” are located at the far right side of the window, over a colourful ad, using no special focus mechanisms whatsoever. Check out how it looks at my 19” monitor :
Waaaaaaaaay too right
2. Let’s try to download an attached file. Open the e-mail…done. Click on the attachment link…done. Check for virii…done. Ermm…download link? Button? Whatever? Hmm…*confused* Oh! There! I found it :
Is it a link? Is it a button? No! It’s a menu option!
3. Finally…let’s look at the code :
….
Ermmm…tables? No, thanks, I’ll pass.
Seriously. If people at MSN want anyone to consider Hotmail as a remotely serious service, they should reconsider. And these things aren’t just for web experts : if I want to spot any usability issues, I put forward my naive self, a healthy 50% of me. And that drastically innovative menu option button is a definite no-no.
I’ll stop here and let you discover other Hotmail issues. I’m fed up with this service and no longer consider it a viable e-mail solution, but I’m obliged to use it because of mistakes of the past. *sigh*
February 21st, 2006 at 2:59 am
I have spotted your blog for a while now and always get excited when you write about usability issues. I am glad some of us care about design and the user experience. As for your post re. hotmail, I couldn’t agree more about their obvious errors. I have some comments though to make about where users look first when they enter a website. I will be brave enough to say that it is a myth (well OK there are a few studies to support this too, but that’s a whole different discussion) that we first look on the top left corner..this happens often but it depends on the user’s purpose too. For example, if you are visiting a site you haven’t seen b4 then yes you are likely to see the logo first. When accessing your e-mail account though, it’s only peripheral vision that ‘passes by’ familiar places such as the logo. We tend to look straight onto the location where we want to act on…Anyways..Just a bit of my humble opinion as based from my own experience with users.
The examples you refer to are spot on and I have come across them too. The one I hate the most is the download menu option..
February 21st, 2006 at 10:31 pm
I don’t believe that you are still using Hotmail!
I know most people have an e-mail there because they are using the messenger but a few know that you can create a sign up password (for msn) using a different e-mail (even yahoo!).
why, you can’t go in another e-mail service? that’s the most easiest these days!
Polla filia!
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:39 am
@ Dr.Me : I know that my assumptions were based on studies concerning naive users, and they don’t quite apply in users that visit repeatedly a service, that’s true. But that’s no excuse for Hotmail to hide important assets of the site!
And yes, the download menu option is a curse…
@ Tommy : I’m still using Hotmail, it’s true, it’s the e-mail I automatically insert when some site I don’t really care about asks for registration. Sorry!
Hotmail is just one of my e-mails, with two Gmails and Yahoo! following.
No, sorry, with two Gmails and Yahoo! leading.
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:58 am
don’t ask sorry: I have also one of two mails which I used them only for registrations (not important’s ones) in several sites.
but I do have nice memories of hotmail too! I had my first hotmsil mail when I was 18 and I was really felt bad when I moved to yahoo (some years later) and didn’t know that if you don’t access your hotmail account for a while, they delete it! Some mails from there was so sweet history for me… but life go on…
February 22nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Believe it or not, my first e-mail address was a Yahoo! one, somewhere back at 17. My hotmail address was a proposition of an ex-boyfriend when I was 18.
I keep both addresses due to sentimental reasons, obviously.But Hotmail drives me mad anyway
February 23rd, 2006 at 7:45 am
I keep my hotmail address since I was 16, for sentimental reasons. It’s the only provider that manages to keep all spam in the inbox and move all useful e-mails in the spam folder!!
And yes, thank you, I always have to spend 5-10 second trying to find the bloody download icon. It’s so annoying. And that 2MB? LOLOL!
The thing is that Microsoft didn’t care about hotmail when it acquired it and still doesn’t give a damn (who remembers that hotmail did not initialy belong to Microsoft, but it was bought by M$ in order to fight AOL?). They just got a huge base of user e-mails and data and this counts a lot more than the money they spend. Think about it.
Microsoft doesn’t make any money from the crappy ads they sell, nor do they test any new technology (like gmail). It’s obvious why they keep it running. It’s all about brand name, customer loyalty and huge databases of e-mails.
Bloody capitalist system!! (sorry, I got way off track…)
February 23rd, 2006 at 7:46 am
P.S.: Sugar it’s department, not compartment
- or is it a nasty innuendo? 
February 23rd, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Nah, its compartment, think “glove compartment” in cars.
March 1st, 2006 at 7:43 pm
hey sugar? If I told you that I have a way to increase your account from 2 MB at 25MB in a few sec, without money?
what I will have in return? :P:P:P
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Tell meeee I’ve been looking all over Internet for that.
Ok, I’m kidding, I heard about that, can you send me an e-mail explaining how?
Ena filaki?
March 2nd, 2006 at 6:58 pm
okay, it’s a deal!
a kiss
(and some advises!)