4 ms·

37Signals' "37BetterBank", circa 1998, is still better than my bank's interface from 2008

45 points by henning 18y ago

pxlpshr 18y ago
Seriously, can someone please tell me why banks have such terrible interfaces? They have soo much money, they could blow it out of the water... Take ING Direct for example. Their service rocks, I absolutely love it... but I loathe their interface, it makes me hesitant to refer to my aging family members.
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
  I'm currently working on similar software to what a lot of banks use. The user interface is given very very low priority. It's kind of sad. I'm working on the back-end side of things (the money must add up! otherwise the accountants get grumpy) but would love to see more innovation on the interface side of things.
  - yaj 18y ago
    I have developed web and desktop applications for a bank ... "Design" is just considered eye candy and it is not in the specification document.
- hugh 18y ago
  Probably the same reason that just about all large companies have annoying websites. Something to do with large companies being terrible at anything which isn't the core of their business.
- tortilla 18y ago
  Design by committee - multiple departments with a say in the final product.
henning 18y ago
this dates from loooong before DHH/Basecamp/Rails/etc. came into the picture.
myoung8 18y ago
it's also copyright 2001, not 1998.
ashleyw 18y ago
Wow cool, they have a few "Better" apps/designs: http://www.37signals.com/better.php http://www.37signals.com/better.php In PHP too!
- antidaily 18y ago
  Getting Real online book (2006?) is php too: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php
systems 18y ago
Okay I have never done online banking, so I am not sure I understand what this is? Is this an application they sell to banks, or is it an application you can use to connect to your bank online regardless of what your bank offer? ... what is this?
- ovi256 18y ago
  It's a design for a banking website. They did not go beyond the mock-up stage.
  - spydez 18y ago
    They should have... That mockup is lightyears better than my bank's site.
mpc 18y ago
Sometimes using the mobile version of an existing site in a normal browser can give you similar results https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ http://mobile.fandango.com/ http://mobile.fandango.com/
- iamdave 18y ago
  You're absolutely right, I never really thought to even try this.
- sspencer 18y ago
  This is seriously an excellent idea. My Bank of America online banking just improved by leaps and bounds. Thanks!
- mpc 18y ago
  It's also a good test for services that might be ripe for the picking. In other words, if their mobile site viewed on your PC is better than their actual site....well maybe they deserve to be put out of business by a startup.
- deepster 18y ago
  Absolutely Brilliant! I took me less than 2 minutes to pay 3 bills and check my balances. Normally this is 5+ minute affair!
jasonfried 18y ago
Wow, the wayback machine is in effect! The 37Better series was from back when we used to do client work. Every once in a while we'd run into a bad experience with a site we used. An online bank, FedEx, PayPal, etc. So, as one-part experiment, one-part promotion, and one-part just plain fun, we'd redesign one (or a couple) pages to show what we'd do with the concept/site if we had the chance.
Mistone 18y ago
BofA just put in all these crazy icons on their on the U/I that make no sense. My wife and I where looking at it last night in total confusion - they bacially filled the screen with a bunch of useless crap. An improvement would have simply been using a larger font and breaking out transactions into logical categories, maybe even a newsfeed type feature to let you know at a glance the most recent transactions. Other banks are far worse than them, really its remarkable how bad they are even today. then you have credit card companies, don't even get me started....
bct 18y ago
My bank's (CIBC) isn't terrible, but I wish I didn't have to screen-scrape it just to download a list of my transactions.
zzzmarcus 18y ago
I use USAA for banking. Their online interface rocks. The bill pay is especially nice.
brandon272 18y ago
I absolutely despise my bank's website, and the slow servers they use to show it to me. The text is tiny, it uses a table based layout and tries to load up other useless information, such as the current weather conditions.

45 points by henning 18y ago

Seriously, can someone please tell me why banks have such terrible interfaces? They have soo much money, they could blow it out of the water... Take ING Direct for example. Their service rocks, I absolutely love it... but I loathe their interface, it makes me hesitant to refer to my aging family members.

LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
I'm currently working on similar software to what a lot of banks use. The user interface is given very very low priority. It's kind of sad. I'm working on the back-end side of things (the money must add up! otherwise the accountants get grumpy) but would love to see more innovation on the interface side of things.
- yaj 18y ago
  I have developed web and desktop applications for a bank ... "Design" is just considered eye candy and it is not in the specification document.
hugh 18y ago
Probably the same reason that just about all large companies have annoying websites. Something to do with large companies being terrible at anything which isn't the core of their business.
tortilla 18y ago
Design by committee - multiple departments with a say in the final product.

henning 18y ago

this dates from loooong before DHH/Basecamp/Rails/etc. came into the picture.

myoung8 18y ago

ashleyw 18y ago

Wow cool, they have a few "Better" apps/designs: http://www.37signals.com/better.php http://www.37signals.com/better.php In PHP too!

antidaily 18y ago
Getting Real online book (2006?) is php too: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

systems 18y ago

Okay I have never done online banking, so I am not sure I understand what this is? Is this an application they sell to banks, or is it an application you can use to connect to your bank online regardless of what your bank offer? ... what is this?

ovi256 18y ago
It's a design for a banking website. They did not go beyond the mock-up stage.
- spydez 18y ago
  They should have... That mockup is lightyears better than my bank's site.

mpc 18y ago

Sometimes using the mobile version of an existing site in a normal browser can give you similar results https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ https://www.bankofamerica.com/mobile/ http://mobile.fandango.com/ http://mobile.fandango.com/

iamdave 18y ago
You're absolutely right, I never really thought to even try this.
sspencer 18y ago
This is seriously an excellent idea. My Bank of America online banking just improved by leaps and bounds. Thanks!
mpc 18y ago
It's also a good test for services that might be ripe for the picking. In other words, if their mobile site viewed on your PC is better than their actual site....well maybe they deserve to be put out of business by a startup.
deepster 18y ago
Absolutely Brilliant! I took me less than 2 minutes to pay 3 bills and check my balances. Normally this is 5+ minute affair!

jasonfried 18y ago

Wow, the wayback machine is in effect! The 37Better series was from back when we used to do client work. Every once in a while we'd run into a bad experience with a site we used. An online bank, FedEx, PayPal, etc. So, as one-part experiment, one-part promotion, and one-part just plain fun, we'd redesign one (or a couple) pages to show what we'd do with the concept/site if we had the chance.

Mistone 18y ago

BofA just put in all these crazy icons on their on the U/I that make no sense. My wife and I where looking at it last night in total confusion - they bacially filled the screen with a bunch of useless crap. An improvement would have simply been using a larger font and breaking out transactions into logical categories, maybe even a newsfeed type feature to let you know at a glance the most recent transactions. Other banks are far worse than them, really its remarkable how bad they are even today. then you have credit card companies, don't even get me started....

bct 18y ago

My bank's (CIBC) isn't terrible, but I wish I didn't have to screen-scrape it just to download a list of my transactions.

zzzmarcus 18y ago

I use USAA for banking. Their online interface rocks. The bill pay is especially nice.

brandon272 18y ago

I absolutely despise my bank's website, and the slow servers they use to show it to me. The text is tiny, it uses a table based layout and tries to load up other useless information, such as the current weather conditions.