The "Web Bloopers" book that we have on our shelves is a marvellous inspiration - a "there but for the grace of God go I" reminder when we put a web site - or even just a form - together - of catches to look out for.

My thoughts came back on to this a few minutes ago as I helped Wiltshire Council with a survey about their web site, which I had visited to learn about their financial investments in Iceland (found here) and how it might effect public transport (my specific TransWilts / rail view here). But that's another story ...

I was offered a choice of how often I visit the web site:
• daily
• several times a month.
Now - I would judge that I'm there a couple of times each week ... for which there was no suitable option between those two!

I was asked how I found out about the site and given ONE option to choose from. I would love to have said "I came via Google [link from another site] where I had gone to find the link to the right place on your site" but the nearest options were:
• I knew the sight already
• I found a link elsewhere to you.
Now - which of those should I choose?

I was asked to rank various elements of the site, including navigation therein. As I only went to the page that Google pointed me to, I haven't a clue as to how the internal navigation was working today ... but the survey through my lack of an answer back in my face and insisted I answer!

It's easy - VERY easy - to stand in a greenhouse and throw stones. But I do attempt to evaluate forms I put on the web to ensure that the more crass holes have been dealt with. What do I mean? Well - here's a different example.

One of the regular hotel chains that I use when away asks if you'll arrive before or after 8 p.m.; ironically, when I'm travelling a long distance the honest answer is "don't know" as 8 p.m. is almost exactly the time that I expect to get there and before / after is a guess. Now I know why the hotel wants to know - it's because they need to know which rooms to prepare earlier and which may be late, and I applaud them (a clap with just one hand, though) for attempting to gather the data.

Learning from the problems which I have as a user of their site, I opted to include a pull-down menu on our site asking people to ESTIMATE when they would be arriving, and giving 2 hour bands. That way, the customer should not feel worried by "will they let the room go if I'm not there by 5" as it was an estimate, and if the booker is a 2 hour "slot" out as regards their actual arrival, it's no problem at all to us - we still have an excellent broad brush overview of our need to have rooms ready. And, yes, we do have a "before 3pm" and "after 11pm" options to catch the extremes and not miss out any options.

Wiltshire Council's survey - with answers forced to conform with criteria that really don't match the user's view, and fed with false data on things like navigation - may give them some information. But the detail of the results will be statistically flawed, and the thoughtful survey completer frustrated, all due to a lack of proper form and survey design.
(written 2008-10-11 09:33:27)

 G902 - Well House Consultants - Web site techniques, utility and visibility

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