{"id":47924,"date":"2019-09-04T12:53:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T16:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=47924"},"modified":"2019-09-04T13:01:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T17:01:08","slug":"patreon-ui-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=47924","title":{"rendered":"Patreon UI Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

I posted this a week ago<\/a>, but I did so after a video. A lot of people assumed the text was just a transcript of the videoProbably because I told them that’s what it was.<\/span> and thus didn’t see this additional rant. So here it is again:<\/p>\n

On Patreon, I announced that you can get your name in the credits<\/a> as one of the reward tiers. The problem is that the Patreon reward system is needlessly obtuse thanks to the vanity of some obnoxious graphic designer. People keep getting confused because they want the $2 reward, but they want to give more than $2. They click on the “Name in the credits” reward tier, and it will LOWER their existing contribution to $2. Ridiculous!<\/p>\n

This isn’t a hypothetical. This actually happened. To multiple people. Some of them emailed me for help, but others just shrugged and moved on. This interface design actually cost me a little bitLike, $20 to $30. Not the end of the world, but just enough to be annoying.<\/span> of support.<\/p>\n

Someone is so enamored of their sexy layout that they’re willing to sacrifice usability. It looks like this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

It’s not obvious, but that dollar amount in the top-left is an edit field. You can just change the number when you sign up. Before you hit “Confirm”, just click on the $2 and change it to whatever.<\/p>\n

The problem is that there’s nothing to indicate the $2 is an edit field. For proper usability, it ought to look like this:<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

I realize that’s not as sexy, but sexiness shouldn’t be the top priority for a page designed to handle financial transactions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Aside to PayPal:<\/p>\n

Everything I just said goes double for you. Your once-intuitive interface is now attractive and horrendously inconvenient. These are not the priorities of a proper financial institution. I know it’s not Web 2.0 sexy to have your interface look like an accounting ledger, but that’s how your website should look because that’s what it is<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sorry. Back to Patreon. My UI suggestions for Patreon:<\/p>\n