Redirection Indiscretion
When you sign into LinkedIn.com, note the things they got right with the redirection page:
- They have a relevant <title>.
- The words are spelled correctly.
Never mind that, let’s talk about what’s wrong. The image is sized incorrectly, and it might not be propagated across all servers since I sometimes get a broken image icon when I logged in.
Also note I did not test the click here button, so I cannot vouch for its working properly.
The little redirect pages appear in a large number of applications and Web sites, sometimes appearing only for a scant matter of milliseconds before the user is whisked away to paradise, or at least the content he sought.
That’s why these little pages are often overlooked in testing and, let’s be honest, in design and development. Someone jams a bit of text and maybe a hyperlink up there and off it goes. However, you ought to take a little look at it to make sure the words are spelled correctly and that the links are valid. You can do this by:
- Having the developers build an interval in it so you get the opportunity to look it over when you test it.
- Taking a screen shot as it shows up to review the spelling and design placement at your leisure in a graphics application.
- Being really, really fast (my preferred method).
It’s in your Web site or application, so you’ve got to make sure they do it right.
