Chris Cabanillas, aka RestiffBard writes:
I know Go Daddy to be a legitimate business. I know this primarily because I use them as my registrar for, now, two domains. All the same, their website design creeps me out. Not only are they trying to sell you something but it feels like they’re trying to sell you something.
Indeed. Visiting go daddy is like a (bad) trip to Vegas. They don’t hide behind various agreements in 3pt Sanskrit - it’s all neon lights, LSD flash-backs and tacky shop-front vestige.
The thing is, it works. The design clearly plays on the deer-in-headlights or the impending-train-wreck scenario - common sense, hell even the fight-or-flight instinct tells one to get the hell out of the way, and yet one simply cannot move.
Retro 90’s inspired gaudy design? Check. Abuse of the <small> tag? Check. Millions of options presented over 12 different forms, just to procure a domain name? Check. Leather clad indy car driver, preferably female? Check.
And how do I know it works? I have three domains, not one, or two, but three domains registered. And as the Bard says, one will spend ‘a good ten minutes of staring and scrolling just to be sure all the right checkboxes are checked’. Which is also true. Daddy cool will ask you, incessantly, over several forms, what type of fries, coke and sides you want, with that order. None sir? No? How about this? Or that? Or this other dohicky?
However, there is good news, of sorts. For those whom have a basic (or better) grasp on the registration process, take a note of the ‘expert users catalog’ — this is the secret to drilling down past the neon lights, multi-layer forms in 8pt and fake plastic couture and into the heart of the beast.
Scroll down the form, locate the domain registration section, input desired name, ensure ‘quick checkout’ is enabled and hit ‘add to cart’. The system will confirm if the domain is available, hit ‘continue’ and you will be asked, once, if you wish to pay for privacy1, pays your money and your done.
So, are godaddy horrific? Yes. But they don’t hide it. They do a job and do it quite well. So I forgive them of their unholy lolly-pop 90’s design and inexplicable navigational black-holes, because sometimes, design isn’t everything2.
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of internet, links, tips.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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