The ApacheCon US 2005 website, like those of so many other conferences, has a glaring design flaw.

No, I'm not talking about the fact that their site looks like it was built in 1996. (Although, now that I mention it — guys, you need a better designer ... this looks like it was left to a programmer who "knows" HTML and has a copy of the GIMP.)

What I'm talking about is the fact that it's too hard to register. This leads me to Grossberg's Rule of Conference Websites:

Every conference website should have a giant, prominent link that says "Register Now!"

To register for this conf, you have to click on the "Registry" button, which is in the middle of a cluster of other buttons, in the middle of the page.

Then, you have to scroll through a table of all the various pricing options, until you get to the bottom of the page and see the poorly-parsed: "To register for this event, follow this link: <URL:ApacheCon.Com/html/vprereg.html/e=MjAwNS9VUw>", along with the instructions that:

You will need to log in to register. If you already have an account on this system, go ahead and use it; otherwise you will need to create one — follow the appropriate link on the login page

You go to the "ApacheCon Site Login" page and then need to click the "Want to create an account?" link.

You fill out that form, and get notified that "Your account has been created, and your password has been sent to your email address. Please log in with them when you get it. "

You check your email, get the password, revisit the login page, and sign in with your new password.

I left the phone number blank on the personal information form.

I chose to attend "all days" on the next form.

And then I was notified that I'd skipped some required fields two pages ago, and there isn't even a link to do get there. (Upon further inspection, there is zero indication whatsoever that a phone number is required. Oddly enough the "Required fields are displayed in red" indication only appears *after* you've submitted!)

So let's review the steps I've taken:

• Visited the site
• Look all over the page, finally settling on the "Registry" button as my best guess
• Scrolled down to the bottom of the price matrix
• Clicked on the login URL
• Clicked on the create account URL
• Filled out the "create account" form
• Waited
• Got the email with my generated password
• Revisted the login form and used my email and new password to log in
• Filled out the personal information form and submitted
• Chose the days and sessions I was interested in, and submitted that form
• Got an error message that I'd skipped some fields that were required
• Hit "back" twice
• Filled out more personal information
• Chose my days/sessions again
• Verified that my information was correct
• This took me to the "shopping cart" to confirm what I'd like to pay for
• After OK'ing that, it asked for payment information

I abandoned there — I'm not actually attending (though I would try to if it was on the East Coast) — but it took 18 steps to get from visiting the site to a payment page.

It should be, at most, five steps to accomplish this:

• Visit the site
• Click on the obvious "Register Now" button
• Fill out a form containing my personal information, email, desired password
• Fill out a form with my choices for days/talks
• Be presented with a display of the price, a payment form and a "change quantities" link

Come on guys, let's not give short shrift to usability. If it's this much of a hassle to sign up, you'll get that much less revenue and that much lower attendance.

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.