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

Submitter’s comments: Not only is the writer a (two pejorative modifiers and one pejorative noun deleted ), but the website uses frames and is borderline unusable on my laptop’s 1366×768 display. That and this website was made EARLIER THIS YEAR! What over-the-top crap.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: It’s nice to see that KidsToday appreciate the past. The 1996 past. I think this website makes more text-related mistakes than any I’ve seen recently. It’s definitely an Over-the-top Website.

There’s a section about “Text and Links” in my soon-to-be-revised article Checklist 1 – 65 Mortal Sins That Will Send Your Site to Web Design Hell. How many text mistakes does today’s sucker make?

• Our site mixes and matches text sizes on the page. (Video)
• Our site mixes text colors on the page. (Also see the video above.)
• Our site’s text requires people to have special (unusual) fonts on their computers to correctly view our text.
• Visitors can’t read our text because it’s too small or it’s difficult to read and comprehend because it’s too large.
• Leading (spacing) is too big / too small.
• There is not enough leading between paragraphs, menu links, and/or lists.
• Our SITE USES LOTS OF WORDS IN ALL-CAPS.
• Our site uses scrolling, blinking, fading, or moving text.
• We use multiple text styles on the same page for no logical reason. We mix and match (choose your combination) flush left, center, flush right and/or justified text.
• The color contrast analyzer (here’s a video showing the color contrast analyzer in action) says there isn’t enough contrast between text/links and background. Here’s a video that discusses contrast.
• There isn’t enough contrast between our page’s text and background.
• Our site uses centered text on more than just headlines.
• We use justified text. Why it’s bad #1 and why it’s bad #2.
• We use browser-specific text tags like <MARQUEE>.
• We use font faces that are not appropriate for our audience — like Comic Sans on a senior citizen site.
• Our site has text in the status bar — moving JavaScript text.
• We have too much / too little text on a page.
• We haven’t checked to see if Google Translate (somewhat) accurately translates our text to other languages.
• Our site uses underlined text. (Only links should be underlined.)
• Our site has sideways text/links.
• Visited links don’t change color.
• Our links are not clearly labeled. “Click here” is not enough (NSFW, perhaps)
• Our site has too many links in one area.
• Our site has too many links. (Video)
• Our site has lots of dead links.
• Our site has lots of dead links and/or no 404 pages.
• Our site has lots of complex URLs.
• Our site has links consisting of 10-20 words.
• Our links are not informative.

Bombshell 201X