User Interfaces that Will Drive You Crazy

There is a serious epidemic of bad user interfaces out there and even the big guys are not immune from this. If you come across such nasties, give us a shout at githeko@gmail.com

Here is a sample:

http://www.endmemo.com/algebra/populationgrowth.php

Screenshot:

What's the crime?

1. Where is the help? the explanation? It says "Population at Time 0. When is Time 0? Genesis 1:26 perhaps? Then it says Population at Time t. This is even more mysterious. What is "t" The Roman Empire?
2. What is the unit of "Growth Rate"? What is "Doubling Time"?

The site leaves me with a headache. And to add insult to injury, a big porton of the page has blue adverts that use a similar colour scheme to the main content so it confuses the user because one may not easily distinguish between the main content and the adverts. 

My rating: 2/5

The way out

It's really simple:

1. Add a tooltip to each form or hint text to tell the user what is expected. In other words, what on earth is Time 0, Time t?
2. Create a border around the calculator and give it a different background colour, preferably soft, from the adverts. If the adverts are blue, give it a semi-transparent orange background for example.
3. Use a tooltip/hint text to indicate any other info required
4. "Calculate" and "Reset" buttons should be at the end not in the middle of the form.
5. Output fields should be labels not editable text boxes!!

Homework...

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