I don't know about you, but every time I get a chance to test something in its beta form, I'm psyched and excited to catch and squash every single problem! Apparently, this is not the case with many beta testers out there. This applies to video games, websites, software, and so forth. Yes, I know; you're probably thinking about how many times you've ran into stupid problems with software that didn't make sense.
I'm not the one to usually point fingers but this time, I will be putting together a list of applications, websites, and games that I encounter these problems in. A lot of problems include interface bugs, illogical layout design, bad placement of elements, lack of searchability, and so forth. If you're interested to see what I'm talking about, I'll post a list of things that bother me (and others) really soon.
If you're a beta tester, I urge you to stop taking advantage and start paying attention to actually fixing and bettering the product you are testing. If not, STOP! You're hurting the company and everyone else that will use the product.
Out of curiosity, I would like to see what annoys you guys about some websites, applications, etc. Thanks!
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That's a sweet idea, there are tons of sites that make you want to bang your head against the wall. Having them all together in one spot might actually finish you off. Poor usability and navigation are probably the worst, followed by overly cluttered or complex layouts. Bland design doesn't tend to bug me much if I can find what I'm looking for efficiently.
I'd really like to know the actual definition of "beta". So many products come out as beta and rarely ever stop being beta (I'm looking at you Google).
Good beta testers are something are a terrific asset although I'd like to point out that even if you have the very best team of beta testers on the planet there are so many things that prevent from being able to release the product that you want to release.
Lots of time the issue comes from budget, and time constraints, plus people at the top having stupid requests that make no sense at all.
My worst issue would have to be "feature creep" where you start with a bold and well thought out vision, but as you develop both you as the programmer and others (including beta testers and management) think of several new features to make it into the product.
If it isn't managed properly feature creep can ruin a good project, because often you need to squeeze and hack features in rather then elegantly implementing them. If you follow the more established methodologies this isn't a problem but in today's fast paced internet driven world so many products are developed with methods such as extreme programming, which is great for getting products out but a real challenge to manage properly.
That's my 2c, sorry if I drifted off the topic, I was typing everything that popped into my head... :S
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, guys. I do agree that usability and navigability are often neglected when designing even greatest looking applications, and so forth.
And yes, Nic, I do believe that it has become ridiculous how companies releasing and keeping their products in "beta" status as if it's a fashion statement!
Feature creep is definitely a problem that interferes with overall quality of the products being offered. More attention should be paid to things like these in order insure the quality of the things we use.