Most of the forms I must complete on the web include a Country list. The other day I had to fill out a registration form for Google and it inevitably led to a Country list. I was surprised that the option “United States” was not first. Google knows where I am, based on a LOT of information (Cookies, IP Address) but chooses to put the U.S. only in its alphabetical place far down below in a list of all nations. I understand the instinct to purport to be “politically correct” e.g. “the U.S. is just another country in the many in which we do business. Just because it is the superpower we will not list it first.”

However, web forms should not be exercises in politics. They should be as painless as possible. A web form can list options in many ways, and can repeat options. Based on the strong likelihood that I am a U.S. resident, that option should be first. In other scenarios on Google, they like to prove how much they know about you, and then give you the option to change that presumed definition. In this case, they could have pre-selected the U.S., and then had a link “Not the U.S.? Click for other countries.” I have seen some websites that do give a short list of most popular countries followed by all nations. And these sites aren’t even drawing from the large pool of data that Google has, but are using simple probability.

Come on, Google. We know you are very, very hip and awesome. But give us a break when you can, rather than when it flatters you.