| Product | Symptom |
| Adobe Acrobat | Rewriting the (control) rules |
| AK-Mail | Protecting users from themselves |
| Apple QuickTime 4.0 Player |
An in-depth review Cross-platform terminology? Life is like a box of chocolates... |
| Apple Sherlock | It's a matter of apples and oranges, and apples |
| ASPack | One of these tabs is not like the others... |
| AutoCad Mechanical | Contempt for users? |
| Unisyn's Automate Pro |
Navigation Confusion Trust us, our way is better A question of faith Who's job is it anyhow? |
| Banyan Vines' BeyondMail | Title Bar Geekspeak |
| ccMail |
Enigmatic toolbars A critical non-error |
| Classified! | Time-Wasting Calendar Control |
| Click & Print Certificates |
The Style "Buddy" Control confusion |
| Compuserve WinCim |
The Third Degree I The Third Degree II Only her hairdresser knows for sure Coloring Books Eh? Say again Sonny? CompuServe Geekspeak |
| Contact Master | Tabbed sort order? |
| CSE HTML Validator | Flag Day! |
| CuteFTP | No way out |
| Datastream's Demo | Installation arrogance |
| Dialog32 | Novice color mistakes |
| Drag And File | Keyboard equivalents for icons? |
| Drawing Board LT | Insane installation progress indicator |
| Dr. Zeuss ABC | Challenging messages for children |
| Easy CD Creator | Alarmist colors |
| Eudora |
Cute, but terribly unclear Someone needs to get out more |
| Ewan 1.052 | Can't see the forest through the trees |
| Eye Candy 3.0 | No way out |
| eZip Wizard |
Hidden functionality Wizard-enforced stupidity |
| Flexi | Magnifying Glass Metaphor |
| FreeJava | Holy Errors Batman! |
| Freeloader | Trick or Treat |
| GetRight | Convoluted tab navigation |
| GIF Animator | Minor excess |
| GIF Construction Set |
It don't work that way anymore Long file names? Better think ahead You can't get there from here Mixed signals |
| Homesite 4.0 | Unnecessarily interrupting the user... |
| HP ScanJet | Help is waaaay over there... |
| IBM Aptiva Communication Center |
Copping an attitude Arbitrary Stupidity Novelty for novelty's sake Tab Addiction No rhyme nor reason |
| IBM Audiostation |
Power metaphor Won't you be my neighbor? Of Lists and Broken Rules |
| IBM NetFinity | Real estate woes |
| IBM RealCD |
Macabre Design Even Pangloss would despair |
| IBM RealPhone |
Tooltip Abuse A complete embarrassment |
| InfoAccess | Breeding like...buttons |
| HTML Transit | Why doesn't it do anything?! |
| Jaws | Be careful what you ask for... |
| Jazz Jackrabbit 2 | Geekspeak for the kids among us |
| JDeveloper | Failure to think ahead... |
| Linux XFM | Geekspeak that would confuse the geeks themselves |
| Lotus Notes | (We needed to devote an entire section for it) |
| Macintosh OS | Trashing metaphors |
| Mannesman Tally Printers | A VCR-based printer? |
| Maxis SimCity | Patience is a virtue |
| MediaBlaze 98 | Gratuitous use of tabs |
| Microsoft Access |
Query-by-Confusion Artistic Roulette Control Anorexia Functional Disorder Jumping through hoops Not enough information Teaching bad design |
| Microsoft Access 95 |
"Are you really sure you want to do nothing?" Go do it yourself! A pissant speaks |
| Microsoft Access 97 | Inconsistent Distractions |
| Microsoft Data Link | "Something is happenin' and we don't know what it is" |
| Microsoft Developer Studio | Damned if you do... |
| Microsoft Excel 5.0 |
Rewriting the rules "The confusing options are your fault" |
| Microsoft Exchange |
Who needs standards anyway? Dueling purposes |
| MS Explorer Find Applet | An in-depth review Improperly tabbed dialog |
| Microsoft File Manager | Control Impotence |
| Microsoft Media Player | Make mine a Chivas... |
| Microsoft Notepad |
Whaddaya expect me to do with it? And now for somthing completely different "We are wrong, but most users won't know" Needlessly changing the rules |
| Microsoft ODK | That's for me to know and you to find out |
| Microsoft Office 4.2 | You want me to do What?! |
| Microsoft Office95 |
Do as I say, not as I do Do as I say, ...sometimes Suggest THIS! |
| Microsoft Office 97 |
Sickeningly Cute Show and tell Unncecessary Distractions Dissention among the ranks A misguided file dialog "fix" Microsoft's Triple-Dog-Dare |
| Microsoft Outlook |
Too stupid to describe Hiding what the user needs to see Misleading conclusions... So what's the question? Useless progress meters |
| Microsoft Paint |
The last place you'd look Toolbar games Mixed signals Blind Man's Bluff |
| Microsoft Visual C++ | Counterintuitive spin controls |
| Microsoft Visual J++ | Geek verbal skills |
| Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 5.0 |
Hiding information behind scrolling tabs Making files just a bit harder to find |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | Kafkaesque options |
| Microsoft Web Wizard |
The Third Degree, Version 2 Poor Short-Term Memory No pain - no gain Between a rock and a hard place |
| Microsoft Word 97 |
Aesthetics over good design? Rube Goldberg message |
| Microsoft WordPad |
Get a clue! Memory-impaired |
| Midi Orchestrator | Saturday Night Fever |
| Mindspring's Pipeline+ | Oh, is that what you meant? |
| Mountain Menus | A tabbed toolbar? |
| MsgBox Mayhem | Bells and Whistles |
| MultiEdit |
The absolute worst tabbed dialog? Unnecessarily alarming the user |
| Mustek's ScanExpress | Lessons on how not to localize an application |
| NetManage Ecco | Sort limitations |
| Netscape Communicator | Truly "artificial" intelligence |
| Netscape Navigator |
"A, B, C, it's easy as 0, 1, 2" Hieroglyphics, or just bad symbols Lack of intelligence Subliminal messages Too much information |
| Norton Anti-Virus 5.0 | Foreigners not welcome |
| NoteBook | Back arsewards buttons |
| Oracle Lite | Exploration Not Permitted |
| Oracle SQL*Net | Mixing commands, options, and meanings... |
| OrderWriter | Isn't it obvious? |
| OzWin II |
I'm a lazy programmer! The wrong tool for the job Get your thinking caps on! |
| Paint Shop Pro |
Unfortunate defaults Changing the way you use the product Flawed recall Options where none exist Singular messages Bait & Switch menu items |
| PaperPort | Expensive Error Message |
| PMC for Windows | Pay no attention to us... |
| PowerBuilder 5.0 |
Delayed gratification Misguided priorities Programmed inefficiency |
| Popkin's System Architect | How not to resize a form |
| PowerSearch | We could help you but we won't |
| PeopleSoft | Unscrollable Scrollbars |
| PGP 5.5 | Cryptic instructions |
| Psychedelic Screen Saver | Tabs on acid (and a response from its creator) |
| Quickbooks 4.0 | Hey that's not what I wanted! |
| ReadPlease 2000 | In-depth review of gratuitous metaphor |
| RealPlayer 6.0 | ...chicken or the egg? |
| ResSched | Immediate-Action Menu Titles |
| RoboHelp | No way out |
| Spidersoft's WebZip |
The insidious Hot Cursor metaphor Necessary but hidden features The problems with dynamic buttons |
| SQL-Windows |
Ambiguous Error Message Hostile Menu Titles Unhelpful Error Message |
| Team Flow Server | "DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" |
| Time & Chaos |
Intrusive, Unnecessary Interruptions Curiouser and Curiouser... I'M SHOUTING AND I DON'T KNOW WHY We don't need no stinkin' access keys Left-click context menus? |
| trueSpace 2.0 | An in-depth review |
| Quicken's TurboTax |
Say what you mean... Can it really be trusted? |
| Rational's ClearCase | A particularly irrational question |
| Siemens WebWasher | Scrolling withing tabs |
| Socket Spy/32 | The "Matched Pairs" Metaphor |
| TransSoft's FTP Control | A fork in the road |
| Typograf | Where's Waldo? |
| US Robotics Install | What I meant was... |
| Visual Basic 5.0 |
A lesson in inconsistency Way too much time on their hands Confidence inspiring messages Progressive inefficency "Something's going on...but what? |
| Visual Forms |
Can't we all just get along? See the Invisible Man! Errors = 1/Feedback |
| Visual Fox Pro 3.0 | Hardware incompatibilities |
| Visual Labels |
Command Non-Buttons Drag from Toolbox? Painful Exit Procedures Mandatory Right-Click |
| Visual Portfolio Manager | Tabs in lieu of menus |
| Watcom C++ |
Metaphors need to be apparent Mor atention needed |
| WebEditPro | Stop Helping Me! |
| Webforms |
Confusing Multi-row Tabs Landscape Artistry Painting by Numbers Unreadable Status Bar Stressful Colors and Alignment |
| Windows NT |
Since when is success an error? Stupid NT message |
| Who's Where? | Backwards design |
| Windows Help Designer | Unhelpful ordering |
| Woodworkers Estimate Helper | The difference between us and them |
| xBlock | "We're Number 0! |
| ZDnet File Finder | The difference between this and this |
| Zoc for Windows |
Tab sheets extraordinaire Why even bother with toolbar images? Angry command buttons |
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