Usability – designing for people

Sandisk’s Sansa ‘microsite’ is a frustrating and unsuccessful attempt at a product oriented Web site. It looks quite respectable on the surface, but if your goal is to find information and make a purchasing decision, this site fails to deliver.

Here are some of the problems I noticed:

• No deep linking – many issues arise from this.
• Poorly presented product information.
• Text content crammed into a small pane with fiddly scroll up/down buttons.
• No summary of key product features, just a few pale icons which look like spurious design elements.
• Small text with weak contrast will be difficult to read for some users.
• Navigation buttons scattered around the screen, inconsistent positioning.
• Site starts playing a sound track without choice or warning – not good for covert surfing in an office environment.
• Product comparison table lacks detail, makes for difficult horizontal eye tracking and has no links back to individual product info.
• Hover highlight on accessories nav block conceals next/previous buttons.
• Product reviews are pointless: they don’t quote any review content or link to the original source.

Fortunately, the Sansa microsite also has poor SEO and no deep linking, which will limit the number of people who find and ultimately have to suffer this Web site.