Web Pages That Suck - learn good web design by looking at bad web design

Submitter’s comments: Although my background is more in graphic arts than UI design, I’m a big fan of your work.

My most recent encounter with crazy web layout/navigation comes courtesy of my health insurance plan.

After about my fourth login, I finally realized that the main navigation structure is composed of three columns (colors: puke green, blue, red) on the right side. The real beauty of this design is that the navigation columns leap from the right side of the screen to the left when clicked. And then they leap back when another column is clicked. I’ve never seen anything like this before. All the sliding columns are causing eye/mouse strain!

I believe this is one of the biggest health insurance companies in the country. How can the navigation of its web site be so convoluted?! Thanks again for promoting good web design. Your site has helped me a lot.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Anthem Health is making me very sick. In addition to the bronchitis I’ve had for the last month, this site’s navigation is making me puke my guts out. If Christopher Columbus used navigation this bad, we’d still be living in Europe. This company isn’t like yesterday’s sucker, Unexplained Research, this is a big, supposedly serious company.

This site typifies a new plague on web design which I’m calling, for the moment, jQrap. jQrap is the crappy misuse of the jQuery Javascript library’s effects just for the sake of using the effects. Just like Flash gets misused by Flashturbators, jQuery is starting to be misused by clowns like me who aren’t programmers. Oh, yeah, there are a lot ob bad programmers writing a lot of jQrappy plugins.

There are also a whole host of contrast issues, but they pale to the navigation.

Initially, I’m calling this phenomenon “jQrap.” I might change it to jQueryCrap or jCrap or whatever great name you come up with in the comments or email.

Anthem Health