Netscape 8 beta: What Are They Thinking?
Back from the software graveyard, at least so it seems, Netscape 8 is currently being distributed in a public beta. Ummm, is anyone else wondering WHAT ON EARTH THEY ARE THINKING?
The engineering idea seems smart enough, let the user choose between rendering the page with the IE engine or with the FireFox engine, all in the same browser. This is actually quite intuitive as for those rare occasions that FireFox doesn’t display properly, I open IE and try to direct to the same page, but sometimes web session information, and other variables make it less than worthwhile, to put it lightly. But what about that interface?
CNet.com offers a favorable review, without really mentioning the usability or interface issues, which frankly blows my mind away. BetaNews also offers up a review, but the user comments are no-holds-barred scathing lascerations on the software and the AOL/Netscape-portal brand tie-in.
As Dennis Miller would say, “I don’t wanna go off on a rant here…” but lets dig a little deeper into Netscape’s thinking:
* Lets intrude into the interface as much as possible. Web users aren’t tired of information overload, so lets put a big honking Netscape logo up, in case they forgot which browser they’re in.
* Lets also put up enough visual noise to really irritate user eyes. At the same time, lets use orange for all the buttons
* Now because we’ve become more of a portal than a leader in the movement that is the web, let’s remind users that they can shop on the internet, lest they forget.
* Ooooo, oooo, oooo, let’s insert a newsticker, weather, a webmail counter, and 5 hard to read and difficult to understand buttons all in one toolbar. Users don’t need any visual breathing room from the craptastic button toolbar above
* Lets also give them only 18 spaces to type and read a web URI. If you don’t know what site you’re on, you shouldn’t be on the web
* Lets put some random, nearly unrecognizable icons on the far right of our search field, which by the way is just as big as our URI field, so that users really have to relearn using a browser before getting back to business on the internet
* Lets Netscape everything baby: the color, the toolbars, the links, the search engines, everything…
Whew, I can go back to work, now that I got that out of my system…
I couldn’t agree more
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