[Lotus Notes Sucks: Example 53]
Design Upgrade
Problem
I clicked about the Lotus Notes workspace trying to make it irritate me. Within five seconds, this message appeared:
I didn't know what the hell that meant and I was not going to risk it. If Lotus Notes can't figure out what goes between the apostrophes, who knows what else is screwed up.
Thanks for telling me the obvious.
Analysis
Notice that these error messages' title bar is "Design Upgrade." Most of the others that Lotus Notes throws out at you are titled "Lotus Notes."
These messages should be written in understandable English. In addition, there is never a reason to inform the user that he just canceled an action.
User Interface Guideline Violations
- Interrupting the user's work flow with a dialog box that should never have a reason to appear.
- Error messages should be constructed so that they are grammatically correct and contain punctuation.
- Forcing the user to deal with stupidity.
Conclusion
Lotus Notes sucks.