One of the frustrating aspects of Dot Tel Domains is the difficulties with some of the third party applications that are designed for them. They can look bad, and sometimes the arrangement of user steps is not user-oriented but reflects the design style of software programmers.
The promoter of the Dot Tel Domain technology, UK based Telnic, does not supervise the production of third party software applications. They liaise. Quality control is lacking. A user of the technology needs to be able to go to the Telnic site and know that what they are downloading has been tested and works.
I have recently used a third party application which had flaws. The application wasted hours of my time. With an obscure top level domain extension like Dot Tel, one can not have endless obstacles put in one’s path. Most people will just give up and go away. To the software company’s credit they eventually fixed the problem and maintained contact well in the process.
What application designers do not understand is that users on a forum are not a typical domain users. They are biased users with higher than average levels of computer literacy. If Dot Tel is to become a mass product then it has to be usable. All programmers who do not understand usability should hire usability experts to test their work. Telnic is also staffed by technical people. Their organisation seems to be moving gradually to a more market oriented approach but it has been slow in coming.
My example is of a third party Dot Tel control panel application developer who has created an online software control panel allowing owners to put ads and other things on their sites. I read through the Telnic forum thread trying to establish whether this application worked as I am usually skeptical. There is nothing more frustrating than dealing with something that has not been tested thoroughly. There were laudatory comments about the application, so I decided to try and use it to put some ads on a few of my domains.
It did not work. I tried it many times and it did not work. I emailed the organisation and posted about the problem on the Telnic forum. No came the reply, we have never had a problem or errors. Yes, but I do have a problem, it doesn’t work! They finally found that their software had a bug with the web browser Chrome. I tried it again and it still did not work. There was an additional HP netbook resolution issue. The software now works correctly.
I had spent about two or three hours on these issues. It seems to be all about helping programmers fix their products by providing free testing for them. There should be some kind of approval process that makes sure these applications work before they are put on Telnic’s site.
I am one of the people who believe you do not take a product to market until it works. But in the ‘new world’ of ‘Web 2.0′ we are all unpaid guinea pigs for software programmers, it seems. Presumably, when their products work we and others will have to pay to use them. I do not know if the products mentioned will be sold in the future, but I am happy to pay for working usable software now!
Give us shelf ready software and stop chewing up our time with problem products, I say! Telnic could come up with something like a ‘Telnic Approved’ quality mark on software it displays on its web site. The ‘Approved’ sticker would say that, in Telnic’s opinion, the software was both usable, and working. The software companies could pay for the Telnic’s checking and certifying. Now there’s an idea!
Bill Rutherfurd is an early Dot Tel adopter. He thinks it is great as a cheap web presence with fast access to contact data and information especially on mobile phones. To find information about his Taupo, New Zealand Dot Tel directory please go to http://www.squidoo.com/Taupodottel. He has a dottel blog at http://www.dottel.blogspot.com.
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