Hi everyone! I'm preparing a lecture for students at the Université de Pau about the importance of usability (user-friendliness) in web site design. Anyone have any examples of unusable French websites that I can use to demonstrate website design errors? (I've already noted a few on my e-marketing blog, http://emarketingmama.com)
Thanks!
Tema
Thanks for the ideas. I've also been frustrated by the SNCF site. (Wasn't crazy about SNCF-Voyages either).
Any others, folks?
I think a lot of people go to sncf.com, instead of voyages-sncf.com, and that's where the problem lies.
I found the pole emploi site hard to use when helping a friend look for work. it's cluttered, you get booted and have to log back in all the time, and also, after clicking a job in the search, you have to go back to the main menu,and start again to get back to where you were in the list. Thank god for right-click +open in new window.
I can't stand the sncf website. I wanted to find out which train to catch from A to B, my options to arrive in time for a certain meeting and how much it would cost.
I was hoping for a similar set up to te majority of the low cost airlines. Insted I was expected to know which type of train I wish to travel on, I'm a member of the public not a train buff, and then exactly which time I wanted to leave. They seemed more interested in selling me SNCF as acompany and recruiting than showing me timetables and prices. It may have imporoved since I last looked but I have given up trying I now call the train station to find out the information I want, however they don't answer out of office hours which is why I wanted the website browssing.
Just my opion by the way.
Any of the DIY sites Leroy Merlin, Mr Bricolage etc, with Bricomarché being the worse.
You do a search, it takes ages and when you sort the results to low to high it doesn’t, you look at an item on the list and go back to the list it takes you back to the main page you started off with and you have to search again, also if you reach the bottom of the page and it says 32 of 300 in your search and you click more it does not add the next items to the bottom of the list, it adds another 32 on to the list and takes you to the bottom of the list, so you have to remember what the last item was on the list and scroll back up the list instead of down, infuriating.
And breath 
Agggg, you have got me started now, I was trying to think of a French site that I like using and isn’t a slow, badly designed, badly coded 404 mess and gave up as my blood pressure is rising , La Poste is another mess if you are trying to send parcels to the UK 
You’re absolutely right Colin. This is one respect in which France is behind most developed countries. My neighbour - who is a French IT specialist working internationally - thinks it goes back to the old ‘minitel’ technology - an ur-internet in which France led the world - so many French technologists were slow to adopt the anglophone internet.
I disagree, at least they show you some products 
- Brico cash is just beyond awful - they dont’ even show you what they have in stock, if you are lucky 2 or 3 products show and then when you go in you discover they actually have loads (or no) other options. It also looks about 15 years old - so dated!
Forgot to add, why are the sites so slooow, it is like being back on a poor dial up connection again, click …,…wait for it …,…wait for it …,…yay (maybe) 
or usually click, click, click, click
Le Bon Coin is the one I hate - too slow and the filters are awful.
I find La Poste’s site confusing, although I do usually manage to print some stamps. Sometimes the browser reports that it is a security risk - I think there must be fake La Poste sites out there with different but similar URLs.
I’ve not looked at it for ages as it was so bad, there seemed little point to it, but the Eleclerc site was atrocious
Don’t even start me on the Net enterprises move to the Urssaf site and how now two different passwords will work depending on whether I am using the app or web browser. It took me and Mr H (well Mr H) over an hour yesterday and multiple devices to get me logged in again after the September ‘update’ to the mobile app… and all I was trying to do was pay some tax!!
And it used to be quite quick and uploaded pics etc really quickly - then they decided to ‘upgrade’ it - very annoying!!!
Oh don’t start me either on that whole group of gov’ish websites that are so confusing to use - you don’t know what site you are supposed to be on. I declare etc with Urssaff so tried to amend and the close my old ME and got rejected both times as they ‘don’t deal with you - go to the CMI’. They are quite happy to have me declare to them every month etc! I then couldn’t work out which site they meant so ended up going on Guichet Enterprises which apparently you can do everything on and they then send on to the right place - we shall see if it works, not had a confirmation they have done it. Then had a call from Urssaf yesterday to say that they see I already have an artisan / commercent business wtf but at least they are going ahead with registering my new ME!!!
Got to be one of the most useless sites, closely followed by 3mmm.