This is Broken

...or at least a pretty stupid incarnation of a timeout message:


It's from H&R Block's otherwise excellent tax preparation software. This little hiccup occurs after five minutes of doing nothing.

This makes the cardinal rule of UI: don't make me think.

Seriously, read the message - then close your eyes and picture your two button choices: 'OK' and 'Cancel' which do you press to stay logged in?

Yep. That's right: 'Cancel!'

After all, it helpfully tells you that you press that button to save your information 'without exit.'

Ugh.

The other, positive option is 'OK' which also saves your information and then exits.

Compare that message with this one:


Rocket scientist or dumb as a bag of hammers, this message gets through. You have two choices - the buttons and each button label tells you what will happen when you push it.

The real joke of H&R block's program is this message occurs when you are logged into their tech support chat app. You are asked to wait for the next available rep and the wait is (guess how long?) yep, five minutes.

What that means is this: right about the time you get a support rep in the chat session, this message pops up.

You think: Save my work? Wait- exit? Uh - 'Cancel!'

But don't worry - there is no right answer. No matter what you pick - your chat session closes.

So you fire up chat again and wait for the next rep - they should be along in about five minutes...