eflow.ie broken and lacking any IA or HCI design
[Begin RANT]
Well I could already repeat everything that Gar has said about the new eflow M50 tolling system but I won't as he's dead right. It's a complete crock. I haven't been around Dublin but my Mum asked me to pay for her trip through the M50 so I had my first encounter with the eflow system and it ended rather abruptly. It simply doesn't work for Safari, now one would think that the earlier revamp of the BOI 365 online internet portal (and debacle over the forgetting of Safari users) would have reminded developers that some people do use Apple's and OS X.
Now fortunately I do have and also use Firefox so I was able to actually sort my Mum's trip out but when I open the actual page, I was directed by the incredibly poorly designed site to register rather than to pay as you go, now I realise that the intent of the designers is obviously aimed at getting registered users to prove that they meet the tick box quota that has been set on them but lads .. users first, foremost, and always. Simple HCI and IA is nowhere in evidence in the site and if one of our students was to produce it, I'd send them back to the drawing board. I can't believe that the NRA paid, and I'm sure they paid royally for the site and ended up with such a crock. On a final note, I was half way through the registration when the crippled AJAX (please lads read JJ Garret or any host of other design books, that is not how you use AJAX.) before I got feed up and accidentally discovered I could pay in the section labelled "Unpaid Toll" rather than something more akin to "Pay Unpaid Toll".
[End RANT]
Update 1: Seems that John has had both payment errors by eFlow and a crash out from .Net on a Windows box. So its not just narky Apple user's who get the short end of the stick with the system.
Well I could already repeat everything that Gar has said about the new eflow M50 tolling system but I won't as he's dead right. It's a complete crock. I haven't been around Dublin but my Mum asked me to pay for her trip through the M50 so I had my first encounter with the eflow system and it ended rather abruptly. It simply doesn't work for Safari, now one would think that the earlier revamp of the BOI 365 online internet portal (and debacle over the forgetting of Safari users) would have reminded developers that some people do use Apple's and OS X.
Now fortunately I do have and also use Firefox so I was able to actually sort my Mum's trip out but when I open the actual page, I was directed by the incredibly poorly designed site to register rather than to pay as you go, now I realise that the intent of the designers is obviously aimed at getting registered users to prove that they meet the tick box quota that has been set on them but lads .. users first, foremost, and always. Simple HCI and IA is nowhere in evidence in the site and if one of our students was to produce it, I'd send them back to the drawing board. I can't believe that the NRA paid, and I'm sure they paid royally for the site and ended up with such a crock. On a final note, I was half way through the registration when the crippled AJAX (please lads read JJ Garret or any host of other design books, that is not how you use AJAX.) before I got feed up and accidentally discovered I could pay in the section labelled "Unpaid Toll" rather than something more akin to "Pay Unpaid Toll".
[End RANT]
Update 1: Seems that John has had both payment errors by eFlow and a crash out from .Net on a Windows box. So its not just narky Apple user's who get the short end of the stick with the system.
posted by Eoin Brazil at
7:59 p.m.
5 Comments:
I understand the whole point of these Blog thingies is to whore yourself around so I'm going to post a link to my own experience of the whole eflow shite site and overall experience!
http://www.johnbrowne.ie/?p=47sk
By
John Browne, at 9:16 p.m.
I've not been checking my feeds as regularly this week so missed all that fun you had with the whole eCrap! Really those lads are something else. Hope they somehow fix what they have messed up charging you!
By
Eoin Brazil, at 9:34 p.m.
I assume they'll need some time to iron out the glitches. Once they start sending out demands to people who think they've paid, then the shit will hit the fan.
By
John Browne, at 10:47 p.m.
Greetings!
I just came across this entry, and I read it with great interest. It confirms my initial worries and suspicions about "eFlow", which I outlined in my own blog on August 31st. (http://inishtrahoull.blogspot.com/2008/08/having-your-cake-and-eat-it.html)
The whole thing is a shambles, a rip-off a probably even illegal. I am no lawyer, but I have a strange feeling about the set-up and how it is run. If a lawyer with the right knowledge would challenge it in court, it might be very interesting to see the outcome.
Personally I have decided to boycott the system and will not use the M 50 as long as this highway robbery is in place.
By
THE EMERALD ISLANDER, at 11:08 p.m.
Seems that there are still a lot of problems with the site as Leon discusses similar issues to John.
Emerald islander - I'd have to agree with a lot of your posting but then the government did screw people over with the Westlink from day one so this isn't anything new. I'm sure its just some other favoured lackeys getting their piece of the pie.
I haven't even suggest the use of a Guardian or a using a mobile Wave bubble. I'd love to see how the system works against a directed denial of service attack over the RF spectrum. I'm sure some of hackers in Dublin will soon be offering cloned tags (with RFID its simple) and someone one of these days will do a denial attach just for the craic. Its a challenge to people with the mindset, now if I was in Dublin I might be tempted myself but its a bit of a haul.
By
Eoin Brazil, at 11:38 a.m.
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