SubscribeHow not to design a webmail service
Posted by stuart on March 04th 2006
This post looks at the layout of the new Windows Live Mail website. I can’t believe how bad it is – this is definitely a lesson in how not to design a webmail service.
Let’s start by taking a look at the first screen you are greeted with after logging in:
Now before I carry on, I should just clarify something… This is obviously still in beta and may not be the what the final release looks like, but as they have just released a whole bunch of new features and UI ‘improvements’ I’m assuming that this is fairly close to what the end product will resemble.
Let’s look at the first screen – this is a taste of what’s to come… Large, obtrusive adverts – neither of which are relevant to me. Different font sizes, weights and colors greet you with a blurb about the cool, new features. Clicking on the Inbox links takes you to the screen that you’ll probably spend the most time in:
The first thing that I dislike about this screen is the poor use of real estate. In all the screen shots, my screen resolution set to 1024 x 768 which is the native setting on my notebook screen. This is the default view that you are presented with, notice the size of the message viewing area compared to the amount of space taken up by adverts. I’ve highlighted this in the following screenshot with the height and width of each relevant section:
One of the nasty side effects of the poor use of real estate is that you end up with four scrollbars in the window as highlighted in the next screenshot:
Some really strange behaviour that comes from the excessive need for scrollbars is that the right-hand advert scrolls vertically with the right scrollbar, but not horizontally with the message view window. It’s quite hard to explain, but the advert and the message window move indepentantly although they are both scrolled with the same scrollbar.
Another issue I have with the new UI is the icon that is used next to the Junk and Trash folders:
This icon actually represents the button that empties either of these folders. I’m not sure why they couldn’t use an icon that more closely represents the button they are trying to show.
Overall, I’ve only touched on a few of the issues that I’ve encountered. The interface is made up of several frames (I thought that frames had been banished from modern sites) and I’ve encountered a problem where if you need to reauthenticate the centre frame loads in the whole screen giving you no links to get back to the inbox. It’s also terribly slow!
I was hoping that the new interface and the integration of the calendar and tasks would get me to switch back to my Hotmail account from the Gmail account that I’ve been using. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’ll definitely be sticking with Gmail – especially since the recent rumours that Gmail will be including a calendar in their offering too.
Have you used Windows Live Mail? What were your opinions? Please leave comments…
Posted by stuart
Filed under Windows Live Mail
Tagged with live, microsoft, webmail, Windows Live Mail
16 Comments
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Stuart-
You’ve raised a number of valid points. As you mention, the software is still in beta and we are going to continue to make changes and improvements to the user experience. Some of the changes will take a bit longer than others, but rest assured we are aware of each of the items you highlighted here.
Think of each of our milestone releases as “snapshots in time” of a vision we haven’t yet achieved.
Regards,
Omar
WL Mail
How not to design a webmail service…
OK, it would seem that folks feel that Live Mail is a miss, not so much a hit with certain audiences. But I have to ask though, it is really that bad? Well based on the screen shots that I……
Thanks for your response, Omar. It’s good to see that you guys are willing to listen to criticism. I’ll keep following the beta closely – hopefully you guys reach your goals.
[...] beta @ amanzi » How not to design a webmail service This post looks at the layout of the new Windows Live Mail website. I can’t believe how bad it is – this is definitely a lesson in how not to design a webmail service. [...]
Hey Stuart,
nice write up, I’m still surprised you didn’t mention the incompatibility with Firefox:
http://www.fewagainstmany.com/tech/windows-live-mail-not-for-everybody/
[disclaimer: I wrote the post]
Yes Tim – that’s a valid point. Out of frustration I have got into a habit of using IE for all microsoft related sites so I forgot to mention how Windows Live Mail is only for IE at the moment. Thanks for the comment. (and nice blog btw.)
If it won’t work with firefox or other browsers that a big problem for me and other users, does someone have an invite they could send me? smb2004@hotmail.com
Hey Matt,
http://www3.imagine-msn.com/minisites/mail/Default.aspx?locale=en-us
sign up for an invite, you should get it after a couple of days.
Thanks for the link, Tim!
How a webmail service should look – http://www.yoohoo.co.nz
@Billy – nice idea, but how about some screenshots or more details on your site before signing up?
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