It’s time for Thursday Thirteen.
I’ve been visiting many new (to me) web sites lately. Not all of them are corporate sites; some are personal interest, some research-based, and lots are blogs. And when I’m searching for something in particular, be it a product I want to buy or an exciting blogger, I have realized there are certain things I look for. More specifically, there are certain things I don’t want to see, and most of them will make me click the BACK button quicker than you can say you’re sorry and it’ll never happen again.
I share a list similar to this as a DON’T to students in my web design classes. Of course, some of these are my own personal preferences, and I’ve also limited the number to 13. If you’re looking for a boat-load of really great design tips, check out Web Pages That Suck. It is, in my opinion, the Holy Bible of web design.
13 web design elements to avoid
- Hard-to-read color scheme. High contrast is important. Is this a site for secret messages? Green text on a blue background is impossible to decipher. Hot pink background? Electric lime green? Bye-bye.
- Animated images. There are exceptions to these, of course. If they’re small, not too obnoxious, funny, etc. then I don’t mind. But I’d really prefer not to see them at all. Same goes for scrolling or animated text. Use in moderation, folks. Moderation is the key.
- Bad navigation. A landing page that gives me no clue how to move around your site. Give me an obvious clickable link, a short menu, anything. I don’t want to have to guess that the clever graphic in the middle of my screen is the entrance to actual info.
- Sound. Music, goofy sound effects, any kind of sound is so totally annoying, it makes me want to kill whoever thought it would be fun to play for site visitors. You think if you have an easy way to turn off the sound, then you’re being thoughtful? How about this: leave it off and let me decide if I want to turn it ON.
- Pop-up windows, I hate you. Pop-under windows, I hate you too.
- Slow loading pages. Why? Why must you do this to me? At least give me a warning.
- Bible verses. Yes, you’re a religious person. Yes, you are proud of it. Good for you. But if a Bible verse is the first thing I see on your site, I will probably move on. I don’t mean to be a jerk, but I have a problem with people that wear their religion like a badge. “You can trust me” or “I’m a good person” can be expressed better ways.
- Crowded text and images. If your site is hard to read I will not read it and I will not return.
- Misspelled words in the headers or other large text. I don’t like to see misspellings anywhere, but on personal web sites, blogs, etc. they’re slightly more forgivable. Exception: headings. Seriously, how can you miss those?
- Serious punctuation errors, like Capitalization where It Does not Belong and Apostrophe’s in place’s they should and shouldnt be.
- If your site requires Flash or other browser add-ons/plug-ins, warn me. If your site breaks when these add-ons are disabled, you need to do some re-design. And if your page crashes my browser because of one of these things, I shall curse your URL.
- Unidentified or broken links. Hyperlinks should be obvious. Broken links should not exist (exception: in archives, broken links are almost unavoidable; a disclaimer might be nice).
- Undated data. When was this site last updated? If you talk about an exciting event coming up “next month,” how do I know when that is?
I have to agree! The first thing to send me running is embedded music. And if your site makes my eyes hurt by simply looking at it, forget about it.
ReplyDeleteHappy TT!
Well, I must admit that your post got me to take the music off of my blog. Thank you for that!
ReplyDeleteI didn't take off my Bible verse section, but that isn't the first thing one sees on my page. Plus, it isn't there to make people feel they can trust me. It is simply there so I can read what it says, and if others want to, they can too.
This was an interesting list. Thanks for sharing! :-)
Sorry, I had to delete the last comment. I wish I could simply edit after posted. Oops!
Great list Jen, I remember saying a few of those in my web design classes as well. Happy TT!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, this is the BEST 13. I couldn't agree more on every single possible point. All of them. Every one. My blog sometimes loads a little slowly, which makes me crazy, but I did make it to where the when there is lag, the content still loads first before all the other sidebar "stuff" because that's mostly what folks are hoping to see (hopefully). I am bookmarking this and may even frame it just because I love it so much.
ReplyDeleteI liked your points except for number 7 and interestingly, that was a turn off to your blog for me. My bible quote has nothing to do with people trusting me, anymore than yours about saving the world, builds my trust in you. If you don't like blogs with bible quotes that's your personal opinion, but most of us aren't wearing our blog banners as badges.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on 2,4,5 and 6. I have high speed but when it slows me down make me wonder what would it have been like with modem?.. Good list!
ReplyDelete-Amy @ The Q Family
I really enjoy this list and also agree with these things! I will be checking out Web Pages That Suck as well. :)
ReplyDeleteI love, I love this post and I agree with every little thing you said and probably MORE. I think all web designers or wanna be web designers should adhere to at LEAST these simple rules...
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a list and I agree with most of them, especially the hard to read colors. I'm with Dawn and Audra on #7 though.
ReplyDeleteHappy TT. I had to run to my blog and make sure I wasn't doing any of this stuff...whew!! Safe :)
ReplyDeleteAll of us bloggers risk losing readers/visitors by revealing things about our political and religious beliefs. How much we choose to reveal is up to us (thank goodness), but we need to understand that things totally UNoffensive to us can be VERY offensive to others.
ReplyDeleteBut for corporate sites, religion and politics are a huge no-no.