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Usability Newsletter!
Pain
at Mozilla.org
Article by John
S. Rhodes
Abstract
While Mozilla.org is a good
site for open source advocates, web site developers, and the computer
elite, it is not friendly for most other people. Mozilla.org will scare
aware average users because of usability problems, mostly because so much
technical jargon is used.
First Impression
I wanted to download Mozilla 1.0 after I heard that it was finally
released. So, I took a trip over to Mozilla.org
to pick it up.
If you visit the site you will quickly realize that the site is not
meant for average or normal people. It is a web site for geeks. Words
such as binaries, open source, Gecko, XPCOM, layout engine, and XSLT will
assault you. If you are a technophile, then you will like the Mozilla.org
web site and you will probably understand the language being used. In
fact, if you are a geek, you will probably really like the site and not
even notice the jargon on the home page.
Two Comments
I have two comments about the Mozilla.org web site. First, since
it is technophile friendly, it is not friendly for the average user. This
is probably not a web site that your grandmother will visit and enjoy.
Sure, I know that Mozilla is all about being cool and hip, but it just
isn't going to work for the normal web user. My second point is that a
technophobe will not be able to figure out what to do at Mozilla.org and
therefore Mozilla will have a much harder time gaining ground in the
marketplace.
Is Mozilla and meant for "normal" people? I'm not
really sure. My guess is that it is not. Instead, it is a piece of
software for open source advocates, web developers, and other people that
make up the computer elite.
If you go to the download page
(i.e., "Releases" page) to get Mozilla, versus getting it
straight from the home page, you are probably going to feel pain (see
Figure 1). If you don't know much about the software development process,
and other geek stuff, you might immediately run away. I marked it up so
you can see what I am talking about.
Figure 1
Click image for
larger version.
Oh boy, that should scare people away. If I didn't know better, I would say that I definitely
should not download Mozilla. It is only available for testing! No support
will be provided! This is confusing, especially since I keep hearing in
the press that it is now available for downloading.
Of course the download page has plenty more
jargon to sift through. If you aren't scared away, you have to decipher
the language of the software development world (e.g., builds, cvs tags,
Full Installer). Downloading the software from the download page is not
simple and not easy. You have to know what you are doing. Good
luck.
Wasted Opportunity Because of Poor Usability
Remember, the launch of Mozilla 1.0 has been a big
deal in the press. It is getting excellent exposure for free in
magazines and web sites. Yet, imagine how many people will hit
Mozilla.org and be clueless. Imagine how many people will not be able
to download the Mozilla software. The poor usability of Mozilla.org for
normal users is really a shame. It is mainly a shame because it is good
software as I will describe in another article. While I'm not saying the
Mozilla could take back
any major market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, I think it
could have been a threat.
Let me be very clear about something. Mozilla.org is a good web
site...for a specific audience. However, it is not a friendly site for
most people. Does that make it bad? Does that mean I don't like the site?
Again, no. The site is fine. The problem is that you have to be in the
geek club to understand the site and to fully benefit from it.
Comments?
Please send them to me: john@webword.com
I want to know what you think about this article.
What next?
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