My home page is a personalized Google page, and overall, I love it. There’s one instance though when it always irritates me just a little bit and that’s when I’m adding new RSS content. The initial flow is fine. You select ‘Add Content’ and then select ‘Add by URL’ at which point you are presented with this box:

Add by URL Input Form

Now this doesn’t look so bad at first glance, but the problem is that the leading “http://” is not selected. Why you may ask? It’s because typically, when I want to add a site to my Google homepage, I don’t know it well, so I go there, select and copy the URL to the clipboard and then come to this input form to add it. Instead of clicking “Add URL” and then “Ctrl-V” to paste, I have to select the http:// in the input box so I can paste over it. Every time. If I don’t do it, you get the following:

URL Error

I get what Google is trying to do. They place the cursor at the end of the http:// so you can begin typing a URL right away. I know Google is very rigorous about their UE so maybe in their testing they found that most people like to type URLs rather than cut-and-paste them in. (I’d be surprised if this were the case, but you never know.) You also don’t want a blank input form because the presence of the ‘http://’ is a cue to the user that they need to put a URL in that input box.

There’s a small tweak to the box that makes it better and Wordpress uses it. They present you with an input box where the ‘http://’ is pre-selected.

Wordpress Input Form

The benefits of this approach are subtle, but important. The http:// is present and stands out. The fact that it is pre-selected means that if you copy and paste a URL directly from the browser bar, it overwrites the existing text so you don’t get the Google error case shown in the second screenshot. Also, if you type a URL, you overwrite the text but the dialog box is smart enough to know that you entered a URL and to treat it as such.

Now I agree that this is a tiny, tiny nit but the fact remains that it annoys me every time I add content to my Google home page and in contrast, I get the warm fuzzies every time I use the Wordpress input box. User experience works this way. You have to help your users win in small ways and they add up to making them happier. Joel has a great article in which he talks about this topic:

Put people in direct control of the stuff around them and they will, more or less, on average, be happier. It explains why some people like stick shifts, it explains why lethargic user interfaces make you frustrated and depressed, and it explains why people get so goddamn mad when Sony decides to install viruses on their computers just because they tried to listen to a CD.

If you’re a software designer, this is it. This is your big chance to do something meaningful to improve the world. Design software that puts the user in control and you’ll increase happiness, even if your product is the most boring accounting software imaginable. You can do this at the most microscopic levels:

  • The bookkeeping software I’ve been using for the last six years makes a beep when you record a transaction.
  • The Apple iPod includes a tiny internal speaker so that the thumbwheel sounds like it’s clicking when you rotate it.
  • The Sonos digital music system has a handheld controller with a motion sensor built in. The instant you pick it up, the screen lights up.

It’s really hard to focus on tiny details when there are huge swaths of functionality that are missing staring you in the face, but ultimately, the little details are going to be the things that make a difference. If you can deliver enough small, positive surprises to your users (think gorgeously wrapped power cables, a click wheel that clicks, headphones with cords that match the device) they are going to love your product.