My notes on Expedia:
- I went to build a "trip home", trying to ONLY book a flight from ROC to IAD. I selected dates next year, only to be informed that you could only book flights occurring between x/y/2008 and z/q/2009. So I changed the dates to fall within the range (leaving my return on z/q/2009). I was then told again that my return must be on or before z/q/2009. Which it was. z/q-1/2009 worked. Bad boundary conditions.
- When I went to select my destinations on the initial page, I left the "flight only" radio button checked. Then below that, there were checkboxes for adding hotels or cars. This despite the fact that around 3 inches away there were radios for "flight + hotel" and "flight + car". Which I hadn't selected. On the next page I was again offered the option to add a car or hotel (more checkboxes). At least they weren't checked by default. While I was searching for my flight, an ad-looking box appeared telling me to "book together and save!" with a hotel and car.
- The page title was briefly "Secure Transaction Completed" or some such before I was forwarded to the results of my search.
- The pop-up calendar on the second page doesn't go away when I click outside of it. I had to click the "close" link on it (at the bottom) to be able to see the things hidden beneath it.
- Some navigational portions of the site use links instead of buttons. I'm not sure why they like Javascript so much.
- I left my window open for a while before clicking on the particular flight I wanted. Expedia made me start over because "fares change continuously".
It looks to me like the push to book multiple things get in the way of the interface helping users with the tasks they actually want. That's about all I have to say about it.
Bryan Jacobs
- I went to build a "trip home", trying to ONLY book a flight from ROC to IAD. I selected dates next year, only to be informed that you could only book flights occurring between x/y/2008 and z/q/2009. So I changed the dates to fall within the range (leaving my return on z/q/2009). I was then told again that my return must be on or before z/q/2009. Which it was. z/q-1/2009 worked. Bad boundary conditions.
- When I went to select my destinations on the initial page, I left the "flight only" radio button checked. Then below that, there were checkboxes for adding hotels or cars. This despite the fact that around 3 inches away there were radios for "flight + hotel" and "flight + car". Which I hadn't selected. On the next page I was again offered the option to add a car or hotel (more checkboxes). At least they weren't checked by default. While I was searching for my flight, an ad-looking box appeared telling me to "book together and save!" with a hotel and car.
- The page title was briefly "Secure Transaction Completed" or some such before I was forwarded to the results of my search.
- The pop-up calendar on the second page doesn't go away when I click outside of it. I had to click the "close" link on it (at the bottom) to be able to see the things hidden beneath it.
- Some navigational portions of the site use links instead of buttons. I'm not sure why they like Javascript so much.
- I left my window open for a while before clicking on the particular flight I wanted. Expedia made me start over because "fares change continuously".
It looks to me like the push to book multiple things get in the way of the interface helping users with the tasks they actually want. That's about all I have to say about it.
Bryan Jacobs
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