Interface | Interaction | Design

It was mentioned in something I read recently that bank websites are notorious for their bad interfaces. While they get even worse inside, I decided to start with the home pages. This was also triggered by a recent "beta" of a redesign of the home page of one of my banks (which also inspired the title :) ). So, I'll start with them, Bank of America.

Here is their old (current) page:

It's pretty well organized, for a banking site, but there is just too much going on. To be honest, I totally ignore everything on the page except the Online Banking log in area. They do a good job of making that stand out, but considering the vast majority of people going to this page are here only for that, it could be a bit more prominent. What is likely the second most used tool, the "ATMs & Banking Centers" lookup, could also be much more prominent. I do give them credit for making the "Help for homeowners facing hardship" link so easy to find.

Now, let's take a look at the new page they are introducing:

This is a huge improvement. It's a much cleaner design. They've moved all the lists of services up under the Menus. They also got rid of the odd color glitches that were going on in the old menus. The Log In box is much more prominent and simpler. They made the "Locations" tools a bit less prominent, but it balances out, since there is so much less on the page. They also kept the "Help for homeowners" above the fold, so to speak. I really hope they continue this refinement throughout their online presence. They have done much over the last year or so to add features to their online banking, now it may be time to polish everything.

Now for a look at the competition. Chase is about on par with BofA's old page:

They have a lot of content stuffed into that front page, but they do a few things well. Their login is simpler than the first time login for BofA (to Bank of America's credit, they make good use of cookies to save much of what they ask you upfront on first log in). They also put the "Find ATM / Branch" tool right up on top where it belongs.

Compass and CapitalOne are both pretty bad. Neither has the log in on the home page. CapitalOne requires you to select your account type to go to another site where you can log in. Compass has a similar issue, but just places six different sign in links on the right side of the page. Other than that, both are just as crowded as the Old style BofA page. Their only positive is probably that the "Locations" links are all right up on top.

See for yourself:

INGDirect is one of my favorite banks and their site doesn't disappoint. At least not much:

They started with a lot fewer products (just savings accounts originally) as a bank, but have since added more with the acquisition of ShareBuilder and by starting to offer mortgages and checking accounts. I think this simplicity is reflected in their design. It's also interesting that on their home page they have two ways to get to the two most important links, "View my account / SIGN IN" and "Open an account". They only negative is that the sign in functionality is on a separate page. I think that is justifiable once you see their sign in mechanism though.