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

Submitters’ comments: Found this on reddit. Try to scroll – it doesn’t work! You have to use the arrow keys.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Hmm. The arrow keys don’t do anything when I try to use them. This no-scroll mistake is easily fixed – and should have been easily avoided in the first place. A much bigger issue involves the fact that the page fails Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. And WebPageTest.org isn’t thrilled with the page. It gets a grade of “C” for “First Byte Time” for the 1.472Mb page size and 8.66 second total load time. It’s interestng that the word “jewellery” has two “l’s” in it.

Body Jewellery Shop – Labret Studs Page

Submitters’ comments: I was gathering some info on the topic of buying vs building a house when I came across this monstrosity. Seriously! Animated GIFs, tables for layout! Jeez! My eyes hurt!

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Well, Google is going to hate this site. It’s not mobile friendly, its PageSpeed score is 65/100 for Mobile User Experience and 70/100 for mobile speed. Hasn’t the owner of the site ever seen another website? Ever?

Irish Self Builder

Submitters’ comments: A nauseous slideshow of giant images – my favourite is the filthy hand grabbing the chess piece.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: My major confusion was over trying to figure out what the page was about. Once I understood it was about auto insurance for chess players, it all made sense – except for the need for the background images. They don’t show up on iPad or iPhone version – just the desktop. Lose them. I also don’t understand the controls at the bottom right of the screen. The sound icon seems to have no function.

The iPhone version seems to be acceptable. I’d like it if the tagline about being the insurer of the chess federation were more readable.

Tradewise64

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Today’s Lesson: It’s important to make sure the ads that run on your website are appropriate. I was relaxing with my iPad and decided to search for “dead marine pictures.” An important fact: I was signed in to my Google account and I was using the Chrome browser. It wasn’t the results that disturbed me (and the pictures are disturbing) so much as the ad that appeared above the pictures. Google knows me better and more intimately than my wife. Google knows that I’m not the target (sorry) demographic. They know my age, height, weight, skin tone, whatever else. This is the wrong ad. Now, of course, the clincher is “You Don’t Show Dead Bodies of Past Employees to Future Employees.”