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

Submitter’s comments: Love the organization, but whaaa? Try and find how you buy tickets.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: You would think there would be a prominent spot at the top of the home page telling you how to buy tickets. You would also think they wouldn’t be using what amounts to a splash page as the first page visitors see. Granted, the graphic is very artistic but if I want to see something artistic, I’ll go to a museum. The garishly huge and very yellow “CLICK HERE TO ENTER” may have set a new record for the largest “Click here” link in history. Bigger is not always better.

The side navigation is too far down the left side of what should be the real home page. This page doesn’t fit on my monitor and I have to scroll horizontally to read the text.

Oh, I almost forgot. My favorite part of the home page is where it states:

 Celebrating 31 years on the World Wide Web 

Let’s see. Tim Berners Lee created the first web page in 1990 and it wasn’t really revealed to the world until 1991 so…their math is wrong.

Gathering of Nations

Submitter’s comments: In order to install the USB wireless module that came bundled with the purchase of my home desktop, but not installed by the store, I needed the driver from the manufacturer. After rtfm’ing the motherboard manual and using Google to track down the company name and part number, I found the installer file and downloaded it. That was pretty easy to do. Their download section was reasonable to navigate.

Then I decided to check out their home page. My first thought was, it needed to be submitted to WPTS. After clicking the [Read More] buttons, the-sub pages look more reasonable to use. But scrolling down that home page gave me a less than positive first impression, especially after reading your Daily Suckers. It does look like the company makes good stuff, though. And the wireless works fine.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: I realize parallax scrolling is all the rage today and FU, very much, Nike for making this technique popular. This page provides a good example of how the technique works and how to implement it. I mention it because it’s implementation is much better than Mediatek’s. The problem with parallax scrolling in Mediatek’s case and with many other sites is the lack of contrast between the text and background. Visitors need to read the text. If they can’t, why will they stay?

In the abstract to The Effects Of Parallax Scrolling On User Experience And Preference In Web Design the author states, “…advocates of the technique argue that it also improves the overall user experience.” After conducting tests the author states, “The finding revealed that although parallax scrolling enhanced certain aspects of the user experience, it did not necessarily improve the overall user experience.” Drop the technique.

Mediatek

Submitter’s comments: I was struck dumb the first time I visited their website. My personal opinion is that it’s bloody awful as a site in general, but to have it as the site of the town’s only art center?

Vincent Flanders’ comments: As you can see, even on a wide-screen monitor the text gets cut off. Google’s PageSpeed Insights isn’t fond of how the home page is constructed. I’m not either. I looked at the source code and discovered the site was created using NetObjects Fusion – a web design tool I was really, really fond of back in 1996-97. Oh, well. Time moves on. This website hasn’t.

Riverside Art Center

Submitter’s comments: As someone who depends heavily on keyboard navigation, I was flummoxed by the 2014 redesign — Where are the item names? Where are the prices?

Vincent Flanders’ comments: The item names and prices are hidden under the Mystery Meat Navigation. I really don’t like that you can’t tell how large an item is until you click and go to the product’s page.

Their use of filters annoys me. One of the choices offered is “Show in Stock Only.” WTF?! Why are you showing me something I can’t buy? Why?

GamaGo

Submitter’s comments: Take a look.  I could not find anything here.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: It’s just another over-the-top website. Reading some of the material made my head hurt.

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