Welcome to the Alter-Ego of
the World's Worst Website!
Ok, so this isn't the world's best website, but it is a lot better than the site it is designed to improve upon. This page is the alter-ego of The World's Worst Website, a site that was designed to graphically demonstrate the most common mistakes made by new web designers. You can click here to see the original page.
Uncluttered Design
Follow these tips for an uncluttered design that welcomes users.
Color and Clarity
- There needs to more contrast between the background color and the text color. Click here for another example of a poor choice of a background/ text color and size.
- Keep your backgrounds simple. White or light colors usually work best. Your background should not compete with the content of the page for the users attention. If you would like to use a background picture, select a picture that uses muted colors or format your picture as a watermark.
- Select text colors which will contrast well with the background picture.
- Enclosing blocks of text within borders breaks up the flow of the page and causes unnecessary distractions.
- Don't use frames in your layout.
Content
- Misspelled werds and impropr punktuation, make yur web look amaturish, and unfinishd. Awlays run a spel chek befor yu uplode!!!!!! : )
- Where am I and where are the links to other pages? An easy to use navigation structure is essential to any well designed website! Important information should never be more than 2 clicks away.
Distractions
- Unnecessary use of technology. Don't create splash pages which require you sit through a long download and don't offer a 'skip intro' option. Especially torturous on a dial-up connection. Avoid excessive or exclusive use of java script menus.
- Constantly running animations can be distracting when used excessively. There should be no more than one animated object in your view at any time. Also in this category are excessive, large, flashing & obnoxious advertisements.
- Excessive advertisements. Aggressive pop ups, banners, flash ads and other intrusive ads annoy your visitors, make your site difficult to use and bury your message in a sea of clutter.
- Fake error messages. One of my 'pet peeves' are the fake error messages that trick new computer users into clicking on an ad. A real error message will not scroll up and down with the page. Your pointer will become a hyperlink 'hand' over fake error messages.
Music
- Usually, it is best to skip the tunes, but if you must add music, be sure you provide a way for them to turn it off!
Functionality
Don't forget to ensure your site is working! Here are some common problems that lead to user frustration:
- Pictures which don't load properly could be due to improper uploading of files, improper characters in filenames or unusual formats or file extensions...NASA releases first images of alien spacecraft! (Note how the image actually loads.)
- Orphan pages provide no way back to the originating page. These can cause users to get 'stuck.'
- Hyperlinks that don't work is another problem with poorly designed websites. Click through all your links often and update them regularly.
- Hyperlinks of unusual colors can cause confusion for new users.
- Hyperlinks which are overly long and don't tell the user where it goes or what it's about.
- Hyperlinks that lead to the wrong place. Click here for local weather information!
- Other Browsers and Screen Resolutions: Internet Explorer may be the most widely used browser, but it is not the only one. Others include Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera to name a few. Different browsers may display your page very differently. Check your website in as many different browsers as possible. Check it in both 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 screen resolutions. Avoid components which only render properly in specific browsers.
- In addition to the problems outlined above, remember download time is one of the most important factors in your web design. Most web surfers will not wait for more than 10-15 seconds for your page to load before they move on. Use pictures sparingly or use thumbnail images. Be sure to save images in .jpg or .gif format.