Worst Web Sites 2008

I don't really know what to say about this site, except that it is yet another horrible example of Flash overuse and Mystery Meat Navigation. You don't know how to navigate until you roll your mouse over the little squares, and it takes even longer to figure out that the squares that flash on and off are also links, not just decorative. They also use diagonal scrollbars. WHERE did that come from?

My comments:

It's another Museum that uses Flash. Normally, it doesn't bother me, but the Mystery Meat Navigation makes it unbearable. Nobody is going to memorize the navigation scheme. It took me forever to find any pictures of their art and those pictures I found were tiny thumbnails.

Since I'm such a gringo, what's the Spanish phrase for "This sucks"?

Their e-mail concerning The CSI Companies

I went to this temp agency's site and was confronted with some serious Mystery Meat Navigation...

My comments:

And it's the worst kind of MMN -- Flash-based. We've also have some other staples of Flash -- lack of contrast and small text. I'm not sure how -- of if you can -- get from one section to the other. Very bad navigation.

Their e-mail concerning Shulman Fleming

I think they're some sort of employment recruitment company (they call themselves "Workforce Architects"). A grand excercise in Flashturbation, this one features "Mystery Meat Navigation" and a pixellated picture of their graphics designer on the home page! I especially like the effect one finds when moving the mouse through the white box in the "Services" section.

My comments:

This is the kind of page I use as an example when I give speeches. Here's a real business using stupid web design techniques and it's not effective. I'm sure they're doing just fine, but they could be doing better if they had a more businessier site ("businessier" is my version of "truthier").

The TITLE tag needs to be changed from "home_new" to "Shulman Fleming" plus some keywords like "recruitment". Oh, and why is their domain name "sap8"?

Their e-mail concerning Fry Steel

My nominee is a site that abounds in fancy graphics, but offers little help in the way of finding out what products the company offers, has in stock, and how to actually place an order. It is a tour de force of flash graphics, but the navigation is nearly impossible to figure out. After finally locating their "terms and conditions" page, one finds that it protects the web site content, but says nothing about how to do business with the company behind it. After all this artsy-fartsy stuff, you still have to use a telephone or fax machine to contact the company itself. How ironic.

My Comments:

I've said it's OK for music, art, movie, and public relation sites to use "Mystery Meat Navigation" (MMN) because nobody really cares about them and they are legally obligated to look cool. I've also said that the problem with MMN is it influences companies who aren't smart enough to realize they're not in the music, art, movie, and public relations business. When a manufacturing company starts using MMN you know that we've reached a new low.

My comments concerning Dalton Mailing Service.

While I think it's perfectly acceptable — but stupid — to use "Mystery Meat Navigation" (MMN) on entertainment and art sites, there is absolutely no reason on earth for a real business to use this technique. Why? Because it gets in the way and you don't get in your customer's way — see the MMN link above for more details.

Normally, sites that use MMN, use it throughout the site. Not this one — it's on the totally unneccessary splash page — wait — "totally unneccessary" are totally unneccessary modifiers. If you use it once, you should use it throughout — why don't they? Because it's stupid.

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