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

Submitter’s comments: OMG, when I saw this website, I googled “nominate the worst website” and found you. Given what I hoped to find at Fritz Haeg’s website, I was sorely dismayed.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: NOTE: It looks like they’re redirecting their home page to their wiki.

Here’s a link to a quickie video showing the site before the redirection.

I’m trying to cram in some sites before the year ends to try to get them into consideration for the Worst Websites of 2012.

We have Mystery Meat Navigation (MMN), pages with different colored backgrounds (at least they match the MMN) and when you mouse over the MMN menu, the background color of the home page (or any other page) temporarily changes. Fritz designs gardens. I hope they don’t suck like his website.

Fritz Haeg

Submitter’s comments: This new site for a high performance driving school make me wonder if the techniques they teach are as out of date as their design savvy. They’ve managed to incorporate many of your website faux pas greatest hits: animated GIFs, centered text, (even centered bullet lists!), questionable color pallet (lime green text over mustard yellow text on black backgrounds), page dividers, contrast errors (dark blue text on background) and more. Makes me dizzy just looking at it:

Vincent Flanders’ comments: When my first daughter turned 16, I wanted to send her to the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to learn how to drive during bad weather, car chases and other extreme conditions common to Southern California (where we were living). Bob was a 1960’s American Formula 1 driver—and there weren’t a lot of them. I knew that his school could teach her everything she would need to know. While I knew his school was good, I discovered I couldn’t afford it. Every once in a long while when I’m in a car with her during bad weather she reminds me.

I’m sure Mr. Swanson’s school can teach you what you need to know. I’m sure it’s quite good. I’m also sure that I would never use his services after looking at his website.

Here’s the easy way to review his site. Just compare his site with Bob Bondurant’s.

Don Swanson Racing School

Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving

Which one looks like a professional organization? Which one makes you say, “Damn! I want to sign up!” As I often say, “If you don’t look like a pro, the people will go.”

Don Swanson Racing School

Submitter’s comments: OCR is one of the big exam boards in the UK and they’ve just launched a re-design that makes their website essentially unusable. It has random design elements, inconsistency as a theme and a bizarre sideways scrolling navigation/mangling control. I’ve been in the software business for 20 years and this is probably the worst combination of a bunch of awful ideas I’ve ever seen!

Vincent Flanders’ comments: If I remember correctly, some well-known / published author / web authority is the father of this navigational monstrosity. I’m sure it’s a guy who created it because no woman is this illogical.

Visitors have to work to use the navigation. If they have to work, then they have to think. PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO THINK. Doesn’t anyone remember Steve Krug’s web design best seller "Don’t Make Me Think"?

Someone will say, "Well, it’s this way for mobile users." No it’s not. OCR.org doesn’t have a mobile or tablet version of its website. Using the arrow navigation on a tablet or iPhone is an awful experience. At least we only have until December 21 to put up with this stupidity.

OCR

Submitter’s comments: Here’s a site meant to help promote the band hyperbubble.

Hyperbubble (official web site) combines Mystery Meat Navigation (MMN) and multiple pages that contain MMN to create fun, funky splash pages that guard users from ever finding their actual content. They’ve also never heard of text on the Internet and rely on images for gig announcements. Not that you’ll ever find one.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It’s a band site and they’re allowed to be stupid. Fortunately, the music community has, in large part, stopped creating stupid websites. For example, the person who submitted U2’s site back in 2000 said the following:

Although I LOVE U2! The site designer should be ASHAMED!

These guys have plenty of money to work with and the site just doesn’t run
properly and looks completely devoid of artistic merit… ( I know typically artists
sites are a little flashy but they also usually WORK ) In addition to the dreaded
*mystery meat*… I find myself trapped, when I enlarge pictures as instructed,
and when I attempt to enter the different *rooms* it hangs up and you have to
click on the window to register then click exit to get out! VERY VERY POOR! Check
it out!

When you go to U2’s website today, it looks, for the most part, like a regular website. Especially when you get past the splash page.

You don’t keep information away from your customers.

hyperbubble

Submitter’s comments: A “mascot” worse than Clippy; hamsters; Mystery Meat Navigation; Flash; and happy, bright, obnoxious colors.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: If there’s one thing that scares the bejesus out of me, it’s the use of “hamsters” and “mystery meat” in the same sentence.

The worst of the two designs is the one on the left. It’s pretty frightening. Take a look and you’ll agree.

Habitrail