The first digit of a credit card number identifies the type of company the issuer is, e.g. 1 is an airline, 3 is a travel agency, 4 and 5 are credit card companies, 7 is an oil company. The final digit is a checksum. Two things about this baffle me: 1) that websites feel the need to have a dropdown to identify what sort of card you have instead of just figuring it out and 2) why they need to ping it off the issuer's servers to detect you've entered an invalid number e.g. a typo.
Back when I was doing payment code, I built several sites which didn't prompt for the card type, since (a) the first digit identifies the association [1] and (b) the processor doesn't usually care anyway, i.e., you don't need to submit a card type value along with the rest of the transaction data. Most of the clients for whom I built these sites complained about the lack of a dropdown, and were not terribly receptive to my explanations on points (a) and (b) above; their line of thinking on the matter was that people expect to see a card type dropdown, and will complain in its absence. I rather doubt that's true, but I have also never considered it really my place to argue too strenuously against a client who refuses to let me save them money, so more often not I ended up adding the dropdown anyway.
During my time working on websites for a retail company the imagery of the credit cards accepted were considered important. They would even be on pages that just mentioned taking payments before you get to the actual input page.
One reasoning is that it is a sort of reassurance, much like the stickers you see on doors of retail locations that show which cards they accept. It's a reassurance in the idea that if you're deciding if you want to make the purchase or not, that the site will have no problems in accepting the payment option you would like to use. Plus, in a strange sort of way, it implies the site is a valid on-the-level company because surely a credit card company would come down hard on a scam site for using their copyrighted visual identity.
There's not much valid reasons other than it's a visual thing for customers. Although I always suggested using the method of displaying the type of card after starting the number, that goes against the reassurance thing. If a customer has two different branded credit cards, they know up front if one or both will be accepted. Otherwise they have to start typing to find out, which is work for the customer. You always want it to be easy for the customer to spend money, no second guessing.
All of what you say is true, but I was referring to a dropdown or radio button set for choice of card type, and not the card type images themselves, which I always included unless the client preferred otherwise -- something I don't remember ever happening, now I think back.
- You have a row of credit card icons. By default they are in full color.
- These icons react like buttons (hover shows clickability) and act like radio buttons if clicked -- all the others gray out.
- When a user starts typing a credit card number, it selects the appropriate icon if not already selected (graying out the others).
Because they aren't radio buttons (or a dropdown), it doesn't force people through the step, but because they can act like radio buttons (providing only visual feedback), they don't confuse anybody who thought they were supposed to be there.
The forms I've used that feel the most natural do something like this.
I may be talking out of my ass, but if I recall correctly back when I had a merchant account I may have been required to add that drop-down even if it was meaningless.
The card number can be validated, that doesn't make it a valid card. You still have to ask the issuing bank whether the card is an active account, whether it has the funds for the purchase, etc
I 100% agree, I want a couple of local backups and an offsite emergency only if they fail. In fact I hope this kickstarter can deliver that (no affiliation with this, just a backer):
We have over 140 people working on behalf of 12 major motor manufacturers in the UK to support their sales activity. From an IT point of view we are a small team within the business who customise Sage CRM systems (Classic ASP/C#) for some of these motor manufacturers and are now looking to build our own analytics and management product (technology stack not yet chosen, probably not MS).
We are looking for a well rounded web developer who is comfortable with HTML/CSS/Javacript/ASP/C#/SQL Server and ideally someone who also has Sage CRM experience. UI design skills not essential. This is one of the first hires in this area so will have a big say in the new products we create.
Remote working possible though would need to meet face to face occasionally.
If interested drop me a mail at lloyd - at - cogentic.co.uk
The less accounting guys took a slightly different approach which was to collect what the users hated about their competitor rather than saying it themselves:
Alternating which hand uses the mouse fixed a lot of my issues. I use it on my left during the day and right at night. I leave the buttons all set to right handed use.
Worthwhile (if difficult) idea to implement. In addition to decrypting the legalese speak it would be helpful to standardise your output so that contracts could be compared side by side.
It's an interesting take but I don't buy the relationship between Portal and Photoshop. Portal has a defined end point to each level, the routes you take are often limited as well. Photoshop has no predetermined end, it's in the mind of the user sat in front of it. I am guessing (haven't played it) that Minecraft may be a better example in that is offers creative freedom.
Minecraft's hand holding and difficulty curve are still pretty bad. They tried to help the situation with achievements that are like little tutorials, but the wiki is still required for anything other than the basics.
Not necessarily. I haven't played since before the Adventuring update, but back then I had to keep the minecraft wiki open on my other monitor to get anywhere with redstone.
I think it's a great example of a game with a bad learning experience. Something you can do in Minecraft to improve the learning experience could be applicable to productivity applications.
The problem with comparing Portal to Photoshop is that Portal has a fixed goal for the user: Get to the end of the level. How is the designer supposed to teach the new Photoshop user in the same manner?
A possible answer is to provide a simulated training ground that with only a few Photoshop tools "unlocked". By completing tasks you unlock more tools. The problem still exists in that it's still difficult to determine what mastery the user will require. And let's face it - in and of itself, using Photoshop isn't very fun.
