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I don't know what you might think about the new "Help and
Support" page at
http://support.microsoft.com/, but as far as the Advanced Search (http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1)
feature goes, it feels like form has -- once again -- triumphed over function.
Now, I'll be the first person to agree -- it sure looks nicer. And I really like
the help being right there on the page. And sure, it is kind of helpful to be
able to select on categories of content.
But suppose you use this feature like I do. I want to find
information on how to pass a credential set to Reporting Services. Let the fun
begin.
- It was shortcut in my favorites that’s now broken and
"fails gracefully" to a default (but prettier) 404 message. Okay, fixed
that.
- Search for "send user name password"
- Search products: Why is this no longer a drop down?
That would be the most usable and direct way to select the product I'm
interested in. Why rollover to a new page? I know -- its because popup
blockers would likely block opening it that way. Why not make it a hidden
div? Oh wait, then some browsers might no support it. So I suppose I
understand that rolling over to a new page works. On the select a product
page, where do I find Reporting Services? For that matter, where do find
anything for that matter? Well, CTRL+F doesn't help much. Oh wait, at the
bottom of column one, there's SQL Server, I'll try that… I think you get my
point -- the formatting here hurts -- not helps -- usability. Try it for
yourself and I think you'll agree.
- Product Filter. Well, thank goodness the help in on
the page and I'm running at 1600x1200 so I could just look down and see what
that means? But if they could have possibly picked a more confusing term
(I'd have suggested Ranking Method) or more confusing options (I'd have
suggested "This product only" and "This product first")
- Nothing to complain about with the Using and Modified
fields -- other than it should be "at any time" rather than "AnyTime," but
may be they couldn't afford an editor.
- Results choices are fine, but the help option talks
about a feature that’s not present on my form. That's not good. But what I
don't get is why you can't remove the hyperlink from "Community solutions
content" and just put the disclaimer in the help text. Do you really need to
explain that twice?
- Categories: Okay, so I have to decide if I want to
categorize my results before I decide that categories I'm going to use. That
seems really disjointed and awkward. Why couldn't "Community Solutions
Content" have been made an option as a category then made "results -
categorized" a radio button "yes/no" select. Much easier to figure out IMHO.
- Okay, so what do I click to submit my query? Where is
the button clearly marked submit? Or Go? Oh, I supposed to guess that a
"silver arrow forward" means "submit." I've got to agree with Good old Jakob
over there -- Bad, bad, Bad.
- Worse, there's not a single result that has anything
to do with Reporting Services in the list.
I gave up after this -- its going to be easier to figure
this out myself.. Thank you Google for the Toolbar.
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