The Cardinal Sins of Web Design

Too many to count. Frames doesn't bother me, if used correctly.

Midi background music.

Inexcusable. NEVER sounds good. This may have worked in pre 1998, but welcome to the millenium....

GIF Animations

Probably the most abused web item ever.

POP-up ads

No explanation needed

Techno loops.
Ughhh.

Amatuer sensational flash.
You know, arial font big fade in fade out slide all over the place big booms, likely techno music. :)

FlamingText.com
Aghhh... Pathetic.

Java Applets
There are some exceptions. (Scorch2000.com) But as a rule, if you can get around, get around it. Think about it! Have you ever seen a Java applet that looked good?

Fortress/Dugeons and Dragons/Matrix/Techno Flash sites.
2a is good example. (Although they can get away with it.) I know, real popular right now. Just bugs me.

- An intro without skip button (it keeps me away from getting what I want that is contents, unless my interest is the intro!)

- A swf based site with lotsa text fx in different areas of the screen! (yuk)

- And worst of all: not consistency between fonts; use of Times New Roman is bad 80% of the times, especially if U are using Verdana in the same page! :D

Sites that post their awards all over the front page.

Sites that have a preloader to load "you may enter the site now".

Sites that talk more than they walk, ie too wordy.

jofta

Full screen windows even if they have a close button are really annoying.
Pages with text in a colour that blends with the background colour, and pages with over complicated background graphics.
Animated gif's and MIDI.

Pixelated text and images.
Rough edges.
Black backgrounds.
Black backgrounds with neon text.
Huge downloads.

OMG, how could no one say this,

NS's blink tag!

Also, I really hate sites which use haker/lamer text or screen names as there real name

Quote:

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Originally posted by Ed_Mack
Also, I really hate sites which use haker/lamer text or screen names as there real name

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That's about 80 percent of the web design companines out there.

-scott
http://www.scottmanning.com/

Quote:

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Also, I really hate sites which use haker/lamer text or screen names as there real name [/B]

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What is haker/lamer text?

Quote:

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Originally posted by kth

Quote:

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Also, I really hate sites which use haker/lamer text or screen names as there real name

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What is haker/lamer text? [/B]

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Something like kth, or nocrapchurch, or RazorMedia, or JabezStone...

A username.

Although I'm on a message board and your name is kth, its okay. But if I was going to a site to acquire about some services you were offering, I would prefer to know your real name.

-scott
http://www.scottmanning.com/

This is a quick 'cool' check:

But what if your user name is your name and it's the name of your website...?

Huh, what then?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Geoff Edwards
This is a quick 'cool' check:

But what if your user name is your name and it's the name of your website...?

Huh, what then?

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Then you're screwed. jk.

People would just rather talk to Geoff Edwards instead of X3n0753. Know what I mean?

-scott
http://www.scottmanning.com/

Hi, i hate sound u cant turn off, and 2 meg flash intros which dont look good :) (and dont have a skip button)

bp

People copying someone's style without realising the care and attention to detail thats required to do stuff for real.

Full screen popups.

Bank Gothic/Handel Gothic etc. used sparingly and sensitively, fine, anything less and you've got yourself a site that screams 'I am a 14 year old geek!'

people who rant on and on about their *company*...honestly, doesn't this all look and sound the same after a while??

people putting a clock in their flash movies...seems as if this is a useless trend...i can't think of a computer that doesn't have a clock somewhere on it...

the failure of designers to recognize the difference between utilizing trends to their advantage and simply copying...

techno-cheese look and feel

*accessing data* | *permission granted* simulations as you enter a site

canned techno loops

mystery meat navigation

lack of cross-browser, cross platform functionality

totally ignoring the user

failing to recognize and design for audience

building sites that get a great rating in Flash Kit but fail miserably in the real world

Frames ....I hate them especially when you are allowed to resize the framzes. It shows inconsistency I know I have spelled this wrong

Pop ups ... unless it is a new site

I always use internal links open in the same window and externals with a new window. People come to your site to take a look at your work or find info. You dont want them to leave in 3 seconds with a link. I cant think of any other solution with external links. Unless you use frames and the navbar stays on the left.

Techno sites... I think they look really good BUT they are not for business. If you are selling something you dont want people to see *PERMISSION GRANTED* and stuff like that. You want tehm to buy and get the hell of your store so someone else can come in. Just like in a restaurant.
These sites are good for show off. Make them for fun so other designers can say "HEY MAN THAT S***T is COOL"
But that's all about it.


I like clean design although I messed up so many times with the design rules BUT hey we all learn something new everyday.
Content is another very important part. Wording
Keep it short and understanable.

Navigation dont make the users dig down to the bottom of your site just to find your name and contact info.


J

Blink tag...HAH, hah, that's a great one!

Flash intros....while some are very cool, remember the 56k modem, folks...it's a courtesy thing. Why do I want to click two more times just to get to your freakin home page...I left as soon as I saw the 'skip intro' button. Every dog has it's day, and that dog is way dead! What ever happened to skipintro.com - HILARIOUS!!

external links in new window, internal in the same...just my opinion.

And finally...started with flash, migrated to html...ridiculously small text on a black background that's a SLIGHT shade lighter than black. Who the hell can read this??? And if it's not meant to be read, why do it?

Quasi

I hate unballanced colours, overtextured backgrounds and those commercial sites which have this navigation which you have to explore like Magellan;)

content is important in commercial and informational sites (they all should be like tht no?), but I sometimes just like to go through loads of flash sites and watch what's new or interesting and then content has no primary role.

- space backgrounds
- everything is centered, right down the page
- Heading Tags
- blinking, flashing anything
- clashing, bright colours
- pop-up ads
- overly complex navigation

I hate people who modify the status bar

People who think #FF0000 and #00FF00 go together

People who think there users love them and will jump through hoops to get the content because of there lazyness

I'm pretty much sure I either have or am currently making every horrible mistake you are talking about <g>

My personaly theory is that no matter when people start doing sites they have to go through all the stages everyone else has already gone through.

My personal peeve is background images with text over them. Frontpage users seem to be especially bad about this.
Before I even check the source I can almost always guess accurately if a site was done in dreamweaver (black on white, red accents, very austere) or frontpage (lots of flowery sh*t)
You would think I'm talking about personal sites but not always!

Quick dumb question: when you all are all saying you hate popups are you talking about popup ads? any sort of popup? Like for images, video, flash whatever?

b