I ordered a cycling map from Transport for London today. I think the “personal details” section of their form could do with a little work. All the fields are mandatory, including title (Mr, Ms etc.) and phone number. If you don’t fill these in then you get an error message, although you’re not dropped back to the relevant section in the form to correct your “mistake”.

I’m struggling to work out why your phone number and title could be in any way relevant for the delivery of a free cycle map by post.

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But, the worst part of the process for me was at the payments stage. When asked to submit my credit card details, I automatically hunt out the sure signs of a secure payment system — basic stuff such as a https in the URL bar and a padlock icon appearing. I saw neither in this case. Ok, it’s possible that the secure part of the site was buried in a frame, so I right-clicked to get a context-sensitive menu on the form hoping that this might reveal some information. It didn’t, so I quickly cancelled my sign-up.

I contacted the City Lit the next day and they assured me that the process is completely secure. This is what they had to say:

Thank you for your observation and be assured we take online card security very seriously. You will be comforted to know that Netbanx collects card payments on our behalf in a secure and PCI compliant environment. PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a world-wide benchmark mandated by the card schemes for the protection of cardholder identity and transaction information. Netbanx is a reputable company that was founded in 1996 and was the UK’s first payment service provider . We have been using their services since July 2006 without incident … Please be reassured that whilst the padlock does not appear, the payment window within the online enrolment window is secure with 128 bit encryption.

The first part of this sentence doesn’t mean much to me not being a security specialist. However, whilst I’m reassured that they do take security seriously, I’m concerned that the user receives no information or feedback as to the level of site security.

Now, I haven’t got any screen shots to back this up  – and can’t get any without going through the process again — so I’m prepared to admit I may have missed something, although I did examine the page in-depth. Some clear, explanatory text would have set my mind, and presumably others’, at rest — if you take pride in the level of security you offer, then let your users know (maybe skip the bit about PCI DSS though!).

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But, what I like about it the most is the fact that positioned next to it, held on by a fraying piece of sellotape, is a sign on A4 paper that gives you instructions on how to use it: something along the lines of (capitals as per original):

PANIC ALARM BUTTON.

PRESS THE BUTTON ON THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BOX

I love the fact that should you find yourself in a state of panic, you need to carefully read some instructions (which may or may not still be pinned to the wall) to locate the exact whereabouts of the button you need to press to set off the alarm.

Actually, I think all panic buttons should look like Ren and Stimpy’s history eraser button:

I would have preferred to have had some way of navigating through the information on the splash image — for instance, some carousel-style controls or something along the lines of the BBC home page:

On the BBC home page, there are clear controls to change the splash image — they even tell you what you’ll expect to see.

The problem with the Tate approach is that each image displays for about five seconds. I counted six images, so that’s thirty seconds you need to wait if you want to take another look at something that caught your eye. One sure way to frustrate your users.

I really like this approach — summarising the new features in a lightweight overlay with two clear headings: one announcing the new drag and drop functionality relating to labels and messages, and the second answering the question, “where did all my labels go?”. If you’re left in any doubt, the two diagrams nicely sum things up. There’s some clear calls to action in there too — the “Ok” dismisses the overlay and the “Manage labels link” allows you to decide for yourself which labels you want to appear on the left.

The functionality itself is quite interesting — it’s the closest Gmail has come so far to emulating the traditional folder set up found in many email clients. If you drag a message, it gets assigned a label and automatically archived, so it doesn’t appear in the main inbox. Gmail’s lack of folders has never personally bothered me; in fact I tend to find that using folders is quite often a short-cut to losing mail. Still, it’s quite useful when it comes to things like mailing lists which can quickly overwhelm your inbox.

A valid drop target is indicated via the label name becoming highlighted in inverse, e.g. white text on a blue background which is pretty intuitive. The tool-tip, “Move x conversation[s]” also changes colour to match. It’s less obvious when you choose an invalid target — in fact you get no feedback other than nothing apparent happening:

A valid drop target in Gmail.

An invalid drop target

On Wednesday I visited Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, a nature reserve owned by the National Trust and one of the few remaining fen areas in East Anglia.

It’s not the easiest of places to get to if you’re car-less. The nearest stations are Ely and Waterbeach, and it’s a reasonable hike or bike ride from there. You can also get a bus, but the nearest stop is Soham Village, three miles away. I went for the bike option, hiring one in Ely and cycling the National Cycle Route 11 all the way there. It’s a wonderful route: clearly signed all the way (it’s a shame that that should be worth commenting on, but there you go) and mostly car-free.

The Fen itself is quite remarkable: as you would imagine, very flat; seemingly endless in places. I also found it quite eerie — the only sounds you could here were the wind in the reeds and the occasional bird call or human voice floating by.

It’s supposed to be rich in birdlife, but to be honest I spotted more en-route (including what might have been a marsh harrier).

Clear off!, originally uploaded by reynard.

Just back from a week’s camping in St. Davids, Pembrokeshire. The weather was “changeable”, the scenery beautiful and the wildlife wonderful. Hopefully the chronic back pain will lift in a day or two’s time.

As well as doing a few walks along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path I got the chance to visits the islands of Ramsey and Skomer, both wildlife reserves run by the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts respectively. The weather on Ramsay was spectacular, on Skomer it was utterly dire. It didn’t stop me getting a few shots of the resident puffins however. They’re very used to people poking about and just about tolerate it so you can get pretty close.

I’m not great at my bird identification, but cross referencing what I saw with my Complete British Birds and what the wardens told us we could expect to see, I think I got to see:

• Meadow pipits
• Stonechats
• Choughs
• Gannets
• Manx Shearwater
• Guillemots
• Razorbills
• Puffins
• A short-eared owl
• Black-backed gulls
• Oyster catchers
• Skylarks
• Swallows
• House martins
• Loads of rooks and jackdaws

I also got to see some porpoises, common dolphins and seals too which was pretty cool.

But, this one quickly had me tearing my hair out due to its completely counter-intuitive controls: if you click and drag to the left, the map moves to the right, drag it down and it moves up. I double-checked with Google Maps just to make sure I hadn’t totally lost it, and yes, sure enough, this is a reversal of standard controls, as much as they exist. Take a look at these videos and compare and contrast:

1. South Downs Way interactive map behaviour (I’m not sure who produced this software)

2. Google Maps behaviour

But, the first one isn’t actually as daft as you might first think, it just uses a different metaphor. Google Maps (and Yahoo, and just about every other online map tool I’ve used) use something like a concept of a standard map on a table top that you stick your hand on and drag: drag it down, and it moves down. On Google Maps, the pointer turns to the image of a hand when you click which emphasises this metaphor. The South Downs map however, puts the mouse in the role of the walker. Hence if you go forward, the landscape moves behind you; go left and it moves right (kind of).

Clever as this is, I can’t see it catching on. Not only does it break with the convention of other online maps, it also contravenes the standard direct manipulation controls of just about every other software package I can think of.

Incidentally, I looked at Yahoo Maps for comparison, and to be different they reverse the zoom in / zoom out control compared to Google Maps. Just to be different I guess, but this is still very annoying and for me, counter-intuitive. In fact I find Yahoo Maps in general a little clunky — I’m sticking with Google for this one I think.

Yahoo maps: reverses the position of zoom-in / zoom-out. The scale indicators (”Country”, “Region”, “City”, “Street”), although in principle useful, just got in my way.

Maybe one day, we’ll get standard map controls?