Sunday, July 27, 2008

Nike + Human Race – The challenge starts at the website..

OK, I signed up today for the Nike + Human Race today. Nothing like a bit of incentive to get me back running around the ‘tan in winter. I love the Nike + site, but there are some simple usability issues that require a few hurdles to be jumped before you can register.

Firstly, before you hit the site you select your language and country, rightfully it decides the capital city for you to run. But it then ‘tells’ you to select your city again from a list? I agree you never assume, but why not default the selection to Melbourne, or insert a simple button to confirm? Worse still, you need a some A-class mouse skillz to hit the Me
lbourne mark on the Flash scroller. No wonder they request a confirmation click. Madrid anyone?

So here’s my cut on the page (below). First up a clear header that Melbourne is the host city for the pre-selected country. The primary function of those visiting this site is to register, the user has already selected their country, so let’s make registering for their city a one-click confirmation process. Secondary options below this under the grouped title 'Can't be in Melbourne?' to run your own race with Nike +, or choose another city via a standardised drop-down. Both of these options simplified. This also introduces plenty of room to include a pic of Melbourne or the course map.


I figure a lot of this has to do with localisation, and those in the US that have multiple host cities. But it a simple solution for the .au users, that can potentially reduce confusion, reduce completion times, decrease drop-off rates.

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