[WikiEN-l] Ad banners are a bad user interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BLPN#Peggy_Meggars_.28archeologist.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive139#Henry_Hardy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Stephen_O.27Doherty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Ron_Carlson Four *separate* incidents where users mistook the fundraising banner ad for an illustration that is part of the article. As is usual for lousy user interfaces, a lot of us are probably going to blame this on the user being too stupid to read the page properly, as if there was no such thing as a bad user interface. Often the image in the banner is the most prominent thing on the page, and it's located directly above the article title in a place that in many other contexts would mean it really does go with the article. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Ad banners are a bad user interface
On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 15:52, Ken Arromdee arrom...@rahul.net wrote: Four *separate* incidents where users mistook the fundraising banner ad for an illustration that is part of the article. We've had a few at OTRS too... -- Tom Morris http://tommorris.org/ ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Ad banners are a bad user interface
On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 3:52 PM, Ken Arromdee arrom...@rahul.net wrote: Four *separate* incidents where users mistook the fundraising banner ad for an illustration that is part of the article. As is usual for lousy user interfaces, a lot of us are probably going to blame this on the user being too stupid to read the page properly, Would you like to propose a significant mid-campaign change to the fundraiser to help the 0.000x% of visitors we're causing bafflement? As for lousy user interfaces, advertising banners frequently go at the top of pages. That is how they roll. This tiny, merry band of visitors are saying I know Wikipedia doesn't carry advertising, so I will always conclude that Wikipedia pages contain nothing but the content I'm looking for: yes, even right at the top of the screen in the space other sites put up for sale. We should take their confusion as a compliment. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Ad banners are a bad user interface
I've actually gotten email where people think I wrote the article on which my banner appeared. And I would bet Brandon, Susan, and others who aren't Jimmy have gotten the same. The nice thing about our banners is that they don't look like horrifically ugly and annoying ads. It also appears that can be confusing for a relatively small group of people. But most readers know the difference as evidenced by the number of donations, and personally I think trying to eliminate that little bit of confusion would likely involve making banners that look a lot more like other ads on the web. Which would stink, to use a technical term. ;) Steven (Sorry for top posting. On my phone.) On Dec 13, 2011 7:53 AM, Ken Arromdee arrom...@rahul.net wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BLPN#Peggy_Meggars_.28archeologist.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive139#Henry_Hardy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Stephen_O.27Doherty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Ron_Carlson Four *separate* incidents where users mistook the fundraising banner ad for an illustration that is part of the article. As is usual for lousy user interfaces, a lot of us are probably going to blame this on the user being too stupid to read the page properly, as if there was no such thing as a bad user interface. Often the image in the banner is the most prominent thing on the page, and it's located directly above the article title in a place that in many other contexts would mean it really does go with the article. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Re: [WikiEN-l] Ad banners are a bad user interface
Only one of those four confused users is clearly confused by a fundraising banner. With the other three, that's just a guess. It may be a very plausible guess, but I think we need more than guesses before we change the way we fundraise. On Dec 13, 2011 3:53 PM, Ken Arromdee arrom...@rahul.net wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BLPN#Peggy_Meggars_.28archeologist.29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive139#Henry_Hardy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Stephen_O.27Doherty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive138#Ron_Carlson Four *separate* incidents where users mistook the fundraising banner ad for an illustration that is part of the article. As is usual for lousy user interfaces, a lot of us are probably going to blame this on the user being too stupid to read the page properly, as if there was no such thing as a bad user interface. Often the image in the banner is the most prominent thing on the page, and it's located directly above the article title in a place that in many other contexts would mean it really does go with the article. ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l ___ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
