[thelist] terrible site from Jaguar

Bob Davis bobd at members.evolt.org
Wed Nov 15 17:26:15 CST 2000


on 11/15/00 6:05 PM, Cauley, Megan L at megan.l.cauley at lmco.com wrote:

> besides the log-in thing...
> i think it is an aesthetically pleasing flash site..
> 

I didn't say it wasn't pretty - it is.  The design is very pleasing to the
eye, but the usability sucks.

> i think you need to consider their audience when judging the site.
> i am not in that audience ... but i can see where they are aiming for.
> 
> megan

I think it's merely overuse of a tool.  The designer had a hammer, so every
problem became a nail.

By using Flash (Flash 5, no less) they clearly aren't concerned about
accessibility or potential buyers with older machines.  They are
anticipating that their users will have the latest greatest plugins for the
site.

There's no reason to have forms built in Flash.  That's not what it's for.
You can't tab through the fields, you have to click each field twice to get
a cursor (once to change focus, once to get a cursor - and a fast double
click won't work, at least on my machine/browser [G3 400, MacOS 9.04, IE5
with Flash 5]).

After all was said and done, I couldn't even find out information on what
the engine options are, what kind of transmission it has available, what the
drive type is, what colors are available, or anything that might get me to
buy one of these.  

As a user, I'm pissed that I had to go through all of these hoops to get
nothing of any real relevance.  All I got was a quicktime movie.  Whoo-hoo!

As a builder of web sites, I'm astounded at the poor user interface and
amazed at the obstacles put in place for users trying to get at the
information that will drive a purchasing decision.

And, in case you are wondering, no, I am not buying a Jag any time in the
near future.  I'm not in that tax bracket (yet).  I just like cars, and it
was a Jaguar that started the passion for me (a blue 1971 XK-E 2+2 coupe,
V12...I was only 5, but I can still see it in my mind's eye.)

I know someone on this list did some work for car companies - can't remember
who though. Anyone?  What kinds of things to car companies think about when
they are putting sites together?

bob

-- 

bob davis
bobd at members.evolt.org





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