As I will be leaving Crownhill at some point, I set up SWAT on our SAMBA server to reduce some of the technical and administrative burden on the company until a replacement is found. Whilst briefly showing the MD how to use it, we discovered a huge usability flaw – the Delete share button not only looks the same as any other button, but it also provides no “are you sure?” confirmation. Clicking the button instantly deletes the share you’re working on!

As a large part of the world reads from Left to Right, it makes sense that if you’re in a rush, your natural work flow goes left to right. If I was busy, and wanted to edit the public share, I’d probably click the button to the right without even thinking – and with no confirmation dialogue, I’d have instantly deleted the share that I actually wanted to edit. Not good design at all.

Poor usability in SWAT