Telepocalypse

Gizno

I could do a long critique of every softphone out there, and there's plenty to pick apart. I thought I'd just select one little detail to show why the portal IM clients and Skype remain top dog: they just deliver what the user wants, no hassles.

Every time I log in to Windows I get this:

Go away! Shoo! Don't irritate me with unnecessary login screens. Fade into the background. I don't want to think about you until you're needed. (If the wireless Internet connection comes up too slowly, it also tends to crash.)

I suppose I should also point out some of the other usability issues. As Amazon long-ago discovered, the way you present the login/new user screen makes a big difference. If it's confusing (high cognitive load) people bail out, probably (rightfully) assuming the rest of the experience inside will be equally bad.

Gizmo fluffs this with a strange radio button layout. In the user's mind, registering is a different process from logging in, even if the information requested is identical. The drop-down text entry box is the wrong cue for creating an account name, because it implies a selection of existing data. (Yahoo is superb at managing this process in a crowded namespace.) Gizmo operates from the perspective of the programmer, not the user. Contrast with Skype:

(MSN and Yahoo follow the same overall scheme.) The registration process is separate because that part of the experience needs to be managed on its own. It isn't about just filling in a bunch of data fields, but about setting user expectations. I enter a random user name and password into Gizmo, but I've no idea where the process leads me or what other information or configuration I'll need to do. Capture of essential user info like email address needs to be in the same form. (If the Gizmo designers wanted to be brave, drop the radio buttons, and say "Enter user name and password -- if you don't have an account, we'll create one for you.")

Likewise, anything to do with Asterisk, PBXs, or any other jargon my mother doesn't understand needs to be hidden under an "Advanced..." button. Also note how Skype, MSN and Yahoo all place the contextually relevant configuration check boxes on the login screen, not hidden away under an options tab.

This might seem a bit nit-picky, but if you want adoption of your softphone client to be viral, it's got to pass the "mother test" -- you need to be confident she'll install and configure it without you being there to help. And that's a far stiffer and unforgiving challenge than pleasing bloggers.

(PS - If this isn't the lastest version of Gizmo, don't complain to me -- fix your auto-update.)

Posted by Martin Geddes at 12:35 PM

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