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

Submitters’ comments: This is an actual company. I couldn’t believe it either. They actually have great service though the Atari 2600 Purists website.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Well, the good news is you can easily read both sites—lack of contrast and small text are pet peeves of all talented web designers and myself—but you won’t find those problems here. What you find is centered text, which is harder to read than flush-left text (search Google for [is centered text bad] or something similar). There are different colors used for links, underlined text is used on regular text instead of solely for links, text is different size, etc. The home page for Best Electronics is also too long.

The Atari 2600 Purists website has a few problems of its own. It requires Java, which any sane person has removed from their system. When you click “Forums” you’ll discover there’s no normal way to close the window except by clicking another link.

Best Electronics and Atari 2600 Purists website

Submitter’s comments: Got an ugly tub – er, website?

Vincent Flanders’ comments: I love the URL—UglyTub.com—it’s just wonderful. What isn’t wonderful is the design.

I haven’t seen a lot of frames being used on websites today. Very few designers like them and Google doesn’t seem fond of them. What I’m seeing more of on websites is using JavaScript to disable the right mouse button. Usually, it’s to protect content, but I swear I don’t see any content worth taking from this site. Besides, everyone whose IQ is higher than an ice cube knows how to bypass this hack.

More concerning is the hidden text. The following is what visitors see:

And this is what I see because I’m clever enough <grin> to pull off some HTML tricks:

I suspect search engines see the same thing.

Bath Magic

Submitter’s comments: Please take a look at this site for an example of how not to market a restaurant. You have to go through two pages before you get to Enter the website proper, but on the way you see that it was voted Nightclub of the Year, then go to the Welcome page before getting to the Home page. The gallery of food pictures isn’t boosting Tito’s gastronomic reputation either.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: The fact the website has two different Splash pages before you get to the real home page is bad design. Obviously, they want to get you to vote for their restaurant in the Latin UK awards. This is a great example of Mistake #1 from Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015 — “Believing people care about you and your website.“ Your website is about meeting your visitors’ needs. Your visitors don’t give a left-handed flying farkle that you want to win awards. Your visitors are looking for food. You’re keeping food from them.

I found it difficult to figure out how to get to the next page. The itty-bitty “Home” link is not intuitive. The next Splash page at least has the hours of operation, but that’s it. Clicking the “Enter” button actually takes you to the “Info” page, which is the real home page. We have navigation at the top. Clicking the links takes you to the appropriate pages.

Tito’s mobile version of this site is much easier to use, to wit (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase):

• A screen shot of the mobile home page.
• A screen shot of the mobile menu page.
• A screen shot of the web version’s menu page.

It’s all about your visitors. It’s not about you.

Tito’s Peruvian Restaurant

The Drive By Truckers (DBT) are one of my favorite bands. I bought tickets for their last concert in Seattle, but I got violently ill and couldn’t make it. Back in 2010 DBT were playing in my birthplace on my birthday and I thought about flying out for the concert. It would have been cosmic to hear them play their great song, “Birthday Boy” on my birthday in the town where I was born. Trifecta Perfecta. They’re coming back to Seattle and so I checked out the venue, Showbox, to see prices, etc. I noticed that…well, I’ll let the video do the talking.

httpv://youtu.be/Z_1b4Yyo9w4

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Since Sunday is the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I want to present three different 9/11-themed web mistakes. One is accidental; one is interpretational; and the last one is an example of horrific bad taste.

1. The Accidental Mistake.

One of TheStreet.com’s many different home pages from 9-11 needed a sharper editorial eye.

2. The Interpretational Mistake.

Massport left up graphics showing an airplane in the crosshairs of who knows what. Since Massport runs Logan Airport, where two of the three passenger jets were hijacked, they should have removed the graphics immediately.

3. The Horrific Bad Taste Mistake

Some days after 9/11 a company said, “You know, I think we can use 9/11 to sell online wills.”

Here is a video of the world’s worst banner ad and it still leaves me gasping for air.