Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen has identified a solution to some of the poor reviews for the Wall Street Journal’s iPhone app. The problem, he says, is that current subscribers see the welcome screen, which has a large “subscribe” button, and believe that they must pay again to access content on the iPhone. They would learn otherwise only after pressing two “subscribe” buttons, which most people won’t do, Nielsen says. The long-term impact of the confusing user interface, he writes, “is a severe erosion of the WSJ brand among the people who matter most: loyal, paying readers. As this case perfectly exemplifies, usability is not just a matter of whether users can press the correct button. User experience is branding in the interactive world.”
He proposes a welcome screen that sets up the choices better:
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- Jakob Nielsen describes how he would change the current Wall Street Journal iPhone app startup screen on the left to his idea on the right. The current startup screen confuses current subscribers into thinking they must pay again for mobile content.
