Even Google Makes Mistakes

Posted by gussvendsen - 10/16/09 at 12:10:18 pm

Google does a lot of things right, so when I came across this [rare] awkward user moment with a Google product, I found it noteworthy. It happened after my PC crashed. I had Chrome running with multiple tabs open, so after I restarted my machine and browser, Chrome gave me the option to restore my pages. Take a look at what I encountered, then I’ll show you three alternatives that could fix the issue.

Google Chrome Restore Button Issue

Button too far from the instructions “click Restore.”

Google Restore Issue
View it at original size. (You’ll need at least 1280 wide screen)

The instructions tell you to “click Restore,” but what they don’t tell you is that they mean that button lost in the clutter on the far right-hand side of the alert… not the actual word Restore. When I read it the first time, I did not notice the button on the right, so I hovered over the word Restore because I was about to click on it. But the word never indicated it was a link because it was not a link. So I had to throw out my trained “click here” habits and hunt for the right place to click. Not a big issue, but user experience is as much about the small details as it is the large.

UX Rule: Make sure the primary action is clear, and don’t let it get lost in your layout.

Google Chrome Restore Button Fix #1

Place the Restore button immediately after the instructions.

[click image to zoom]

Google Chrome Restore Button Fix #2

Ditch the button and provide a text link.

[click image to zoom]

Google Chrome Restore Button Fix #3

(My Favorite) Place a Restore Pages button immediately after the alert.

[click image to zoom]

Please let me know what you think. Take the poll and put your comment below. Thanks!

Loading ...

October 16, 2009 | In User Experience (UX/UI) | No Comments

No Comments yet »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Gus Svendsen