Pet Peeves of Web Design
Home → Visitor → Pet Peeves of Web Design
The top 10 things that drive me and other web designers bonkers about those who have the power to edit the world-wide web.
01. Using everything you know on a single layout.
It's great to be able to showcase all the different graphic techniques and codes you're able to successfully work with, but when you try to
show off everything you can do within a single look, not only is it poor design but it can also make your website dysfunctional! Then the
visitors really won't care what you can do. Too much Javascript and PHP logging and graphic effects are pretty messy. If you'd like to
showcase your talents, start a portfolio.
02. Not using browser-compatibility.
Fight the war between FireFox and Internet Explorer and other browsers, but make sure that you have at least two or three major browsers to
test your websites on. If a visitor can't view or use your site with his browser, that's a very bad thing. A "use FF/IE" tag won't cut it,
and it's actually very rude. You're making the implication that your website is so amazing that visitors will take the time to download a
program and reload your website, which in all likelihood won't happen. Using browser
shots and validating your coding (here) and CSS
(here) can help you with this task.
03. Having unorganised, unclear navigations.
Even though certain elements can fit into multiple categories, make sure that your content is well-organised so that visitors don't have to
work hard to find what they'd like. Don't "hide" your navigation, either; though puzzles are fun, visitors don't know that they're in for a
puzzle. Also, don't name your links with unrecognisable titles, such as "Tina travels to Thailand" for content. It's not only weird but it
confuses the visitor. Also, don't have different layouts for different web pages. It's not only confusing but it relates to the
concern presented in 01. &uaquo;
04. Going under HIATUS/BRB for a layout change.
It can take a while to make a layout or it can take a few minutes, but it usually does take a while and visitors don't want to have to come
to a blank website all the time. Create a test page and copy all of your original coding there, editing it as you wish. When you're happy
with your layout, just insert the testing page's coding to the website (editing it as needed) and you didn't waste a minute of your viewers'
time.
05. Having broken links and functions.
Whether your contact forms aren't working or one of your links is broken, it's terribly annoying and disappointing. Make sure all your
pages work and test out your outputs, especially the ones most used. There are websites out there with broken links to their
visitor and homepage content because of typos in the URL and pages that are completely underlined or italisised, and I must
say that it looks like they don't give a crap about their site. If you accidentally typed ".phpg" or forgot to close a tag, that's a quick
fix that's a huge mistake if unattended. Use your own site!!
06. Leaving a site randomly or closing it without notice.
Visitors won't hate you for leaving the world-wide web or losing interest in your site; it happens, but don't randomly leave your site or
close it. When you open a site, you have a responsibility to it and you need to make sure that all loose ends are tied before taking a
break. Don't leave your contests running for too long or update your blog too much with "be right back" messages. Just announce that your
site might be slow and/or dying, then let it die naturally. You don't even need to close it, just keep it open 'til it expires. If you
have a love-hate relationship with the internet, leave your site open so that your friends and viewers aren't constantly notified of a
moving domain or similar scenarios. Let me tell you, that's extremely irritating.
07. Isolating yourself from your website.
As in no way of contacting isolation. Though leaving an e-mail is helpful, it's a pain for visitors to go to their inboxes and create a new
message, etc. Just create a contact form, a blog, a tagboard. Easy. But still, put something (even if it's just your e-mail) onto your
site so that visitors can contact you and possibly tell you if there are any more pet peeves around your site *scarey whistle sound*.
08. Using TinyPic and direct-linking.
Though TinyPic is a helpful little site, the images on it expire after a certain amount of time. Your layout may soon have a picture of
some little girl holding a bunny on it if you use TinyPic! Direct-linking images to put on your website, though sometimes legal, isn't cool
either. The provider may change the image URL or you could be illegally using the image, thus causing a "you are illegally using this
image" image on your website. Do not, do not give visitors the URL to an image that is on someone else's server. It could screw up
their page and they'll be pretty angry about it.
09. Bragging about your hits and success.
It's nice to have hundreds or thousands of visitors each day, sure. You can show your appreciation for it, but when website owners brag
about how "popular" their website is because of its hits, it's extremely annoying. Especially since hits are only a small portion of the
site. If you've only been designing websites for two months and you have a popular website, that's an accomplishment, sure, but you're
still a n00b (I'm trying to say this without offending people) and, as anyone can see, the real test of a true web designer is indeed time.
10. Using the worst colour pallette.
For personal sites, I'll say that using any colours you want is perfectly acceptable. But if you're trying to impress, colours are the
heart of design. Neon, flashing, poorly-coordinated colours are the heart of bad design and can really kill your site & layout. Make sure
that your site's colours don't kill the eyes; make your text readable with acceptable contrast, even your brights out with neutrals or make
animated subtle, but make sure that your colours are aesthetically pleasing and are easily viewable by an epileptic.
Hopefully, this list of some of the worst pet peeves will help you improve your site, reviews, blog... or maybe you didn't learn from this at all. But, anyways, keep this stuff in your mind and hopefully your website will be peeve-free!