Smile's awful new website

ste_be
ste_be Posts: 21 Forumite
in Budgeting & bank accounts
In the last month Smile changed me onto their new website. The new site is a category of errors, it looks like it's been put together by someone that really doesn't understand usability. The old site wasn't pretty, but it was at least fairly straightforward and simple to use. The new site is awful.

You can see that a lot of people are having this issue if you look at the TrustPilot site for Smile:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/smile.co.uk

Anyone else with Smile? I'm seriously considering changing accounts as it's that bad. I sent a complaint via their secure messaging but haven't yet heard back. Anyone had any response from them?
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Comments

  • LuSiVe
    LuSiVe Posts: 1,059 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post Name Dropper
    I've only got a credit card with them now but yeah, it's hideous and pretty much unusable.
  • bxboards
    bxboards Posts: 1,711 Forumite
    I have'nt used the site but I have noticed a general trend to 'pretty' sites up but make them far worse in usability. I have a feeling it's aimed at mobile users with low attention spans, so things whizz in and out and up and down, but these things get in the way at the end of the day.

    Aiming for usability goals seems to have been lost and is a dying artful, years ago in Human Computer Interaction design, generally you would have only 5 or 6 elements on a page, and avoid unnecessarily 'bling' or distractions, now it seems the opposite.
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,984 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Many a true word....
    thumbnail.jpg?v1409312940
  • Inner_Zone
    Inner_Zone Posts: 2,853 Forumite
    Was with smile until three weeks ago new website was the last straw, now with TSB and earning some interest at last 5% on £2000 before tax.
  • joncombe
    joncombe Posts: 320 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    bxboards wrote: »
    I have'nt used the site but I have noticed a general trend to 'pretty' sites up but make them far worse in usability. I have a feeling it's aimed at mobile users with low attention spans, so things whizz in and out and up and down, but these things get in the way at the end of the day.

    I think you are right with the trends. And it seems odd to me given that most organisations that re-design their site to be more "mobile friendly" also have a mobile app. Surely the argument should be to encourage mobile users to use the app rather than dumb down the website.
  • ste_be
    ste_be Posts: 21 Forumite
    bxboards wrote: »
    I have'nt used the site but I have noticed a general trend to 'pretty' sites up but make them far worse in usability. I have a feeling it's aimed at mobile users with low attention spans, so things whizz in and out and up and down, but these things get in the way at the end of the day.

    joncombe wrote: »
    I think you are right with the trends. And it seems odd to me given that most organisations that re-design their site to be more "mobile friendly" also have a mobile app. Surely the argument should be to encourage mobile users to use the app rather than dumb down the website.

    I don't know if their site is mobile friendly as I haven't tried, but it's barely big-screen friendly as some of the lists are fixed-width but too big!
  • gwapenut
    gwapenut Posts: 1,358 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    eskbanker wrote: »
    Many a true word....
    thumbnail.jpg?v1409312940

    I don't get it :)
  • ThemeOne
    ThemeOne Posts: 1,471 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker First Anniversary
    I think if you're a computer user rather than a mobile user, poor websites are fast becoming the norm, as web designers optimise their sites for mobile and often seem to trust to luck it'll work alright on a PC.

    The Smile site is just one example out of many. I've had to zoom out slightly to see everything on Smile, so clearly certain elements don't resize to fit the screen, as they should.

    In theory websites are supposed to be viewable across all major web browsers, operating systems and device types, and I think many sites are falling well short of this. I'm not sure, however, if this is just a recommendation or something that can be enforced.
  • Biggles
    Biggles Posts: 8,209 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    It seems to be the same as the Co-operative Bank's new site, which I've recently switched to. It isn't going to encourage me to use it more than necessary.
  • pfpf
    pfpf Posts: 4,945 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Biggles wrote: »
    It seems to be the same as the Co-operative Bank's new site, which I've recently switched to. It isn't going to encourage me to use it more than necessary.
    were you just prompted to switch to the new site or could you force it? this roll out seems to be taking an age.
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