an open letter to iPayroll

Nik Apr 16

Dear iPayroll,

Your service is friggin’ awesome. I’d be using stronger words to describe it if the filters at certain government departments wouldn’t block me for it. Seriously. Compared to the nightmare that is the PAYE system at the IRD, you guys are awesome. You just do all that tax and Kiwi Saver junk so I can get on with running my business. You even integrate with Xero!

But boy, are you guys ever ugly (1995 called, they want their stock photos back).

This is what iPayroll looks like now

Please, please, please do me a freaking giant favour and let Nat redesign your site. Heck, we’ll even do the code, get you onto Rails like all the cool kids.

Just in case you think I’m all talk and no action, here is 5 minutes of Photoshop.

How iPayroll should look

Suddenly, you’ve gone all 2.0! It feels good, doesn’t it?

So, go ahead. Chat to Nat, give us a bell, and we’ll get started. Do it now, otherwise we’ll do it without you. ;)

Your friend (for now),

Nik

what other people thought

Oh, and MSD – you’re next. Learn to set DNS Records please (http://msd.govt.nz vs http://www.msd.govt.nz)

Nik, April 16th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Given that iPayroll is seriously, it’s the best web product I’ve found for years, it’s so funny that the entire website goes against every design and usability principle I’ve ever learned.
Unlike our usual moaning about bad service or sub-par products… this one is frustrating because I think we can see how to make it soo much nicer to use so the experience on the web matches the experience you get from the rest of the company.
In saying that, I have discussed it with the friendly people at iPayroll and they know the problem and say, as with everything, it will just take some time.
On that note. Nik make your comment boxes longer. I can only get like 4 lines in without having to scroll… Or are you trying to cut off my rambles?

Natalie Ferguson, April 17th, 2008 at 9:17 am

Haha, they are meant to auto-extend…. but it looks like i forgot to move the JS across…

*sigh* it’s on my to-do list.

Nik, April 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am

Dear Nik,

Going all Web 2.0 is SO 2007. Aren’t all the cool kids ripping the iPhone interface these days?

1995 want their joke back too.

Cary Thomson (iPayroll), April 30th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

@Natalie,

Don’t confuse graphic design, with the entire fields of usability and design, those fields cover a WHOLE lot more than what Nik has discussed here.

Of course if you do have a list of (specific) observations, yes the friendly people at iPayroll are listening.

Cary Thomson (iPayroll), April 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Lols@comments from iPayroll. pwn’d.

Tim Haines, April 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

@cary: wow, I’m glad you dropped by – and I’m glad I seemed to have ruffled a couple of feathers ;)

Seriously though, you guys have an awesome service and all I want to do is make it better. Simplicity is a big part of the “Web 2.0″ ethos, and that’s what I’m trying to get across. You guys sort my payroll for me, but you do it at what must be a pretty formidable cost of sale – helpdesks, personal sales – this is all stuff the website could be doing for you, i’m sure.

Specific observations are fun – contract us in and I’ll give you a hundred page report ;)

P.S. (in the name of good natured ribbing) At least my iPhone comment boxes use semantic markup, with no table layouts in sight…

Nik, April 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

Yeah I agree. The design is the absolute last layer. I think at the moment, and I may not be the target market, but the app has too much stuff for me to do and input boxes that are meant to be left empty (I think?!? I never fill them in) and some processes that are too long winded. But don’t get me wrong. I love it and as someone who constantly trawls the web for new apps, I don’t take the status of ‘My Favorite’ lightly.

Natalie Ferguson, April 30th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

@Cary,
Do you want an iphone app built?

Tim Haines, April 30th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

holey crap – Ipayroll is seriously broken in FF3. It almost looks like they’ve done a quick hack to turn the current website into a wanna-be Iphone app.

Tim Haines, April 30th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Looks terrible in Safari too. The whole site seems to have a width of about 250 px.

Nigel Ramsay, April 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

@Tim and Nigel. Have a closer look at that URL in my signature ;-)

Cary Thomson (iPayroll), April 30th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Nik (and Nat).

Send me 1 page, if I like what I see we can talk about contracts.

Cary Thomson (iPayroll), April 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

@cary oh right – you have done a quick hack to turn the whole site into a wanna-be iphone site. :-)

Tim Haines, April 30th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

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