Nice touches on live messenger

I just got around installing the latest msn live messenger 8.5.

Some things that really appeased my subconscious..

In the earlier versions of messenger, it used to be both an optical and ergonomic challenge to click on the close button. It looked nice and all that, but was super hard to point to and click. A prime example of a good-looking UI at the cost of better UX.

The new button is wider, has a large hotspot, and is bright red when hovered upon.

The other options(minimize and maximize) have a blue hue on hover signifying a less destructive action.

Subtle touches go a long way in creating an intuitive user model.

Air India: Pushing the wrong Buttons

I was trying to book my ticket on Air India website (https://www.indian-airlines.org/internetbooking/ialform1.aspx) and realized the importance of the placement of buttons.

I filled up the flight details and subconsciously clicked on the Reset button instead of Continue button. Then I realized normally the button which is more likely to be used is placed first followed by the less likely one. E.g. Ok, Continue, Submit followed by Cancel, Reset.

On the second page the Continue button is followed by Reset button whereas on the first page Reset button is followed by Continue button. This even shows the consistency in the placement of the buttons on the website :)

Figure 1: To enter the journey details

Figure 2: Shows the flight information