people can't internets

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Do you ever tell a customer over the phone to go to a certain web address and they search for it instead? IE: "Google came up with a bunch of links!"

Then when you clarify that they should put said web address in the URL bar, they go, the what bar?

It's even sadder when you realized they "accidentally" got rid of their URL bar... or when you log in and they have every browser tool bar under the sun installed and showing (Boing, Yahoo, MSN, AVG, Norton etc).

*facepalm*

Comments

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god that one wins!

[azurelunatic]

Yes. Sadly. It hurts.

[spooforbrains.livejournal.com]

They even had it on the radio the other day. In an advert for some comparison website. For the purposes of the story lets say it was "gocompare.com" (they're that failtastic that if it wasn't them they deserve it anyway). The ad was in the style of a testimonial and it went thusly:

"I loved using gocompare.com. It was so easy! I just opened up a search engine and typed gocompare.com, and it came up straight away!"

Jesus Christ, URL FAIL!

Morons.

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

I guess they gave up on trying to get people to type out a web address in the correct location >_>

[brotherflounder]

How the hell do you "accidentally" get rid of your URL bar?

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Well the way would intentionally get rid of except by accident :)

[linguafranca.livejournal.com]

"I was just clicking around and it disappeared!"

[fnordx.livejournal.com]

I accidentally a URL bar. Is this dangerous?

[ace-brickman.livejournal.com]

corporate mandate (Citrix IE window to a specific website), it gets moved over to the far side where there is no "bar" per se showing anymore, and general idiocy of the end user.. Off the top of my head

[cheezemeister-x.livejournal.com]

Google is the start page in my browser, and I frequently find myself typing in a URL into the Google search instead of the address bar. Happens because I'm in a hurry or because I have other things on my mind.

[greatblondino.livejournal.com]

I've had bosses - in the IT industry - who would always enter web addresses by opening a Google page and typing in 'www.websitename.com', then following the top link. I never did figure out what they thought that text field at the top of the browser window was for...

In addition, I'll refer you to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oCHxB8d20s

[teddy0bear.livejournal.com]

*nod nod* The good news is they have succeeded in accessing the internet, yay! (which is both terrifying and a relief at the same time...)

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Yes I had this customer who could not for the life of her figure out how to enter in her OWN web address (I partially help manage online hosting too), and when I pointed out that she needed to enter it into the URL bar she goes, "But how will my customers figure this out?"

I was like... it's a web address, it IMPLIES, a web address....... >_>

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

I know what an URL bar is, but I'll admit to being lazy enough to search an address rather than typing it all out... Partly it has to do with my atrocious spelling abilities. Google usually has a better idea of what I want to do more often than not, anyway.

[owl]

I suppose this is why Goggle combined the search and URL bars in Chrome....

[monkeedreamer.livejournal.com]

I think that's more to do with the "ease of use" thing, 2 birds-1 stone and all that. My husband has his Opera set up where he types [into the URL bar] "g whateverhe'slookingfor" and it searches Google, or "wp blahblah" and it searches Wikipedia, etc. It's actually quite handy to do, but I prefer my Fx. lol.

because nurses need their Adobe Reader...

[ace-brickman.livejournal.com]

...which has a leeetle checkbox for that damned toolbar:

Start > Run...
www.blahblah.com
OK

Re: because nurses need their Adobe Reader...

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Yes that does work for a PC user on XP :)

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Everyday I read this and thank the gods for my remote control ability!

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Sadly, this mostly happens when I am trying to get a customer to go to meeting.com so I can remotely control their computer.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Yes, all the time. My earliest personal example is from 1998, I was taking reservations for events across the country in a temp inbound phone job (not even DOING tech support) and I ran into a guy who "found" every URL by putting it into AOL Search.

He was actually very grateful to learn how to use a browser.

[katejaneway.livejournal.com]

Aw how cute! ^_^

[tayikhata.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes.

What's worse? I'm a "coach" (aka helpdesk) for people who are setting up web-based home businesses. Most of these people can't even differentiate between their browser and their desktop; if they can even get a URL into a search bar I count my lucky stars.

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

........./facedesk

I get calls like this every day. Volume increases every Thursday to Monday. Because Friday is payday. And we went paperless (HA! Tell that to the people dealing with the kiosks that run out of paper from people printing their paystubs!). So every person out there who's never touched a computer calls us, from their kids' homes, or the library, and without fail, it's a 20 minute call coaching the users on basic internet use.

My cohort is the funniest. "See that bar in the center of the screen? The one that says Search? COVER IT WITH DUCT TAPE. IT DOES NOT EXIST. Now, the one on top? That says Address? Type in the URL there."