Pritam Pebam

With the launch of the new Orkut, there’s been a lot of expectation from the orkut lovers considering the ongoing competition between the two gaint social networking sites, Orkut and Facebook. Being among one of the few users who got the priviledge to use the new orkut in it’s early phase, I’ve come across numerous flows, or simply un-expected structural non user friendly systems and here, as a viewpoint from a User Experience Designer, I’m giving certain things that needs to be revamp at the earliest.

1) Commenting System

The very first thing that I’m going to talk about is the Fb style commenting system which is just introduced newly with the New version of orkut.

New Orkut Comment Feature

If you’ve gone through the comment text-box, you see that it is a single line text-box. This conceals the beginning part of the comment itself and since we human have a short memory span, we forget what we’ve just typed; or most of the time, we usually read what we’ve written in the comment after finishing typing it, and for that, this make us use the arrow keys or the mouse to look back to what we have written.

Now, let us see how Facebook avoid this system:

Facebook Comment System

In Facebook, the comment text-box is in the form of a multi-line text-box. On top of that, to avoid masking the comment while typing, instead of a scroll bar, the height of the comment box itself keeps on increasing as you press the return key. This is one good example of a nice Facebook feature.

2) New Orkut Scrap Text-box

One special feature is the ’scrap’ at Orkut. With the new orkut, the scrap textbox has been incorporated with more advance formating features, like font colors, font weight, embedding videos etc.

Orkut Scrap

The major disadvantage is that, in a scrap, as the name even suggests, it’s a quick system to leave your friend a message; and now, since most orkut users are the youngsters of the society, many are familiar with the keyboard key ‘tab’. As I’ve observed some users myself, what people do is type the message or scrap and press the tab button once, to jump to the post button and press enter or the return key. With the old Orkut, this was possibe, however, the new orkut takes a tab keystroke as a word processing software would, which makes the cursor jump of 5 characters to the right.. and you’ve to use the mouse to press the post button!! Everyone knows how painful that is.

In facebook, that is not so.. one tab and you are on the ’share’  button.

[Update: Well the above functionality, or rather non-functionality if browser dependent. What is written here is the behaviour while using Google Chrome. It works as usual in Firefox and IE.]

3) Orkut Friends

Here is one good part in orkut which facebook fails to deliver. I don’t know how exactly facebook’s system works here but Orkut sure is better in this part.

Let’s have a look at the Orkut Users display:

Orkut Friends Display

If you’ve really observed here, you would find your friends who is online at the moment or was just online a moment ago on top of the list in your friends’ display. This makes the users’ activities increase as not everyone who ever comes up online actively uses orkut but needs one to invoke them to use it, it is most likely that one sends a message or a scrap to another person who he or she thinks is online or who would return him/her somthing… remember everyone thinks for themselves.

Moreover, the friends’ display module has a search box and the scroller so the the user doesn’t have to go to a pop up page (as in facebook) to look for his/her friends.

Facebook Friends

Here, as you can see, I’ve a friend who have not even uploaded his own display picture let alone using facebook regularly, and facebook friends’ display module display it!! Maybe, it is done in the hope of going into his/her account, leaving a message or wall post, but through what I’ve gone or seen, none does that, or perhaps facebook has a better way to solve that problem, the facebook suggestions!

4) Sponsored links or advertisement

Facebook Ads

Again, here, despite the new looks orkut has gone to, the sponsored links or the advertisements really makes the page looks real ugly. (You can see the adsense ads in my orkut profile page in the image below: Personal Details Section)

The facebook advertisements, as can be seen here, is more or less, the same as the facebook looks itself, which makes it look like part of facebook. The ads, also can be ‘like’ by the uses, delete etc, making it more user friendly and interactive. Thus, the ads at facebook are more interesting than those in orkut (through google adsense of course).

This, as a matter of fact, is one big mistake by the search gaint (I am talking about Google) whose major revenue is generated from ads!!

5) Unclear Profile Details

One most important piece of information that a person usually looks at while visiting another user’s profile is the ’sex’.

In the old orkut, the details are provided just below the display picture, however in the new orkut, I was expecting for that piece of information on the main colored part just beside the display picture where the rest of the essential details are provided.

Orkut Basic Info

But, the sad part is that, you won’t know if I am male or female by looking at my profile page, unless and until you go to my “Additional Profile Info”!!

[Look at the ads on the right side, and observe how ugly it makes the page.]

6) Worst Display picture handling

Look at my profile page screenshot above. Look any my display picture. Orkut expects it’s user to upload a square photo. Unless you upload a square display picture, it won’t ever look a part of the page, as you can see with my display picture. My display picture has more height than the width, and as orkut tries to squeeze it inside the square box, the page looks real ugly.

Facebook Profile

Here, in facebook, only the width is fixed. The height can extend to a greater length allowing you to upload a display picture showing even your full body.

7) Scrap Deletion

In the old orkut, there’s this ‘delete’ button beside each scrap you wrote, no matter where you wrote it. You can see the ‘delete’ buttons below (although this is my own scrap book.)

Scrap Delete Button: Old Orkut

In the new orkut, if you visit another person’s scrap book, you won’t able to delete the scraps you’ve posted.

Missing Scrap Delete Button

Where’s the delete button anyway??? If you want to delete a scrap you’ve posted on someone elses scrap book, then in the new orkut, you need to return to your scrap book, press the ‘view conversation’ under the scrap your friend left and delete the scrap you want to delete.

Missing Smiley in status update

One feature orkut users love was the inclusion of smiley on your status update. In the old orkut, the smiley inclusion was easy as there is a visual add to do that, (as shown below). Facebook however doesnt support smilies, (except <3) as far as I know, on there status update.

Status update

But, as you can see in the profile page images above, there is no such visual add.. remember not all users remember the smiley codes!!

Well, these are some of the things that comes to my notice and I hope Orkut gets better. You views are most welcome here.