Hacker News Reader

Comment by aiurtourist | Hacker News Reader

The payment UI looks unfamiliar and slightly confusing.

   https://gethelium.com/static/images/sales/overlay.png

* Why are the labels _inside_ the input field? It's surprising when you can edit _some_ text in a well but not all of it.

* Why is my email address under billing?

* Why is the CVC field on a different row?

* Email, name, and street address fields will contain long data. Neither my street address or email address will probably fit in there.

* Why is the year only two digits? Y2K led me to believe two-digit years means accidental ICBM lanches.

Also, I spent fifteen seconds wondering why I couldn't flip the switches underneath "Effortless for everyone" on https://gethelium.com/. I even tried dragging the switch nub left and right.

I hope this helps. This looks like a really useful service. I'd love to look at the integration documentation (if there is any).

View on HN

Why is my email address under billing?

Does it really matter much? It seems like a logical-enough section to place that field under. I can't think of use-cases where a user would be confused about this unless the company using this tool has primed them to think in certain way about Billing. For example, a company that says "we will never email you billing information" can have its users confused. But that is a made up use-case that is uncommon at best.

Why is the CVC field on a different row?

Again, your question makes it sound like there is a well-accepted standard that it should be on the same row. As an online shopper, I am used to finding the CVC field under the CC field and it has never bothered me.

Why is the year only two digits? Y2K led me to believe two-digit years means accidental ICBM lanches.

That could be because most credit cards list two digits instead of four. And if you have made a payment over phone, it is standard to say something like "0614"(instead of June 2014) when asked for expiration.

Just curious - When you mentioned payment over phone, do you mean via SMS? I'm not familiar with that 4-digit MMYY pattern, I've always been prompted for month & year as separate fields.

I meant payment over a phone call when the rep asks "what's the expiration on your card?" and I go "0814" etc.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. :)

I also spent several seconds wondering why I couldn't flip the switches. Especially since they are partially interactive.

> * Why is my email address under billing?

Probably because Stripe uses it. Doesn't necessarily mean the UX should follow.

> * Why is the year only two digits? Y2K led me to believe two-digit years means accidental ICBM lanches.

Because it's like that on most cards and the idea is to match what people are looking at on their card as closely as possible.

It does seem to need a little polish, but I don't think the form layout is the _most_ important thing for them right now. It's certainly _an_ important thing.

> Why is the year only two digits? Y2K led me to believe two-digit years means accidental ICBM lanches.

On long term things yes it's questionable. But credit cards all expire within a short date period so it's not a concern.

My card displays the expiration date as "GOOD THRU MM/YY".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com