cPanel direction seriously starting to go against basic computer science?

[safemill]

Thanks to whomever set the birthday wish up.


In cPanel, in Email Accounts,
As a user, I notice on my version of the cpanel, (no about screen), that the means to
enter an email account (I have many) has become hidden in a dropdown box (More)
with other options.

Based on the principle of Huffman coding, the most used options should be
in the most accessible positions. Also the most 'dangerous' options (Change-password, Change-Quota, Delete)
should be screened from easy mistaken access and requiring more considered
and determined access... that's where the 'Delete Account' button etc should be,
away from everyday frontal access, and hidden in the dropdown box instead, and the
This sort of stuff they taught to us in University, as Usability
Engineering and other.

If you've managed to readily apprehend the above, then it MAY make sense to you to question why the means to make a new account is at the top of the page taking up most space, and needing to be navigated past each time one simply wishes to enter one of their so frequently used email accounts... oh yes! that's still also in a dropdown box... the most frequently used feature not just 1 but 2 stages away from immediate use?

That's why the heading to this message is...
cPanel direction seriously starting to go against basic computer science?

One mistake is a datum... 2 mistakes implies a trend, along the line between those 2 points...

You may know that in terms of formal economics, the software market is 'perfect', and, if at any time it's true that 'you're only as good as you're last job', you may find the users GONE, almost summarily, in a perfect market they all change direction very easily like a flock of birds.

Now consider how many end users you have, then start to consider all that inescapable (not optional) extra scrolling and dropdown navigation EVERY time an account is required to be entered, then consider the extra time actually wasted by all those mishaps, then multiply it up... if necessary project it, and ask yourselves the question, have you taken a virtual life from the human race? 70 years aggregate of human time wasted? or worse are you refusing to learn the lesson and heading to virtual mass-murder of the time of the technology-world's most elite?

[Infopro]

I login here, domain.com/webmail/ and then one more click and I'm into my email account. This is the way most users logging into webmail go I would think.

The main cPanel user account has many more options, but only the main user has access to them.

[sirdopes]

The cpanel menu is setup to manage the email accounts and not the direct way to access the email accounts. As Infopro stated, webmail can be access directly by going to domain.com/webmail or webmail.domain.com (if the proxy is setup). There is also an icon for webmail on the main page in cpanel to login using your default account and manage the email accounts setup without having to log into each one directly.

[BuffaloWeb]

I login here, domain.com/webmail/ and then one more click and I'm into my email account. This is the way most users logging into webmail go I would think.

And how are "most users" instructed of this? There is nowhere that I am aware of in cpanel that directs users to login at domain.com/webmail. Of course this may be well-known by folks like us, but not by the end-user.

Funny, I just decided to poke around the forums about this topic having just had to explain to a customer that they should NOT do the thing that was obvious to him (which was to click the Webmail icon in cpanel to check his webmail). I just had to explain - and sit with him on the phone while he tried - to go to Email Accounts, THEN find the More button, THEN click that, THEN click the Webmail link there, THEN enter his email address, etc.

Sorry Infopro, sorry sirdopes, I agree whole-heartedly with safemill: The current "hidden" access to webmail for an account: bad idea - very un-intuitive; The current prominence of a Webmail icon that leads to a place where 90% of users need never to go to: bad idea, again very un-intuitive.

Heck, do a poll, figure out what makes most sense for most people and get on with it. This has been a source of confusion since day 1, time to get it right.

[Infopro]

...
And how are "most users" instructed of this?
...

I've been instructing my new accounts, in their welcome mail, to go this route since 2003.

Of course this may be well-known by folks like us, but not by the end-user.

And is why I have always felt it was my job to instruct them on how to use their new cPanel account.

[BuffaloWeb]

Right - I instruct them in their Welcome emails as well. But that's not the point that safemill (and I ) are raising. The point is: where systems can be built to be intuitively clear, they should be. Adding instructions to a Welcome email would not be necessary if the system was designed better in the first place.

I'm sure that for a minimum amount of effort, the logic could be made substantially clearer, and I think the return on that effort would eliminate a significant amount of confusion on the part of end users. So why not?