A Lot To Offer, But Not in Design

I will be honest. I sometimes feel bad making fun of sites. Most often, I feel this way when I see a site trying to do something good. Such as this site.

Obviously, this site was designed to bring additional information to people that live in this area or people that would love to visit this area. The information is absolutely great, but the layout and design is absolutely horrible. Unless you know what you are looking for this site is extremely confusing.

The first thing I would notice is simple... red. The layout of the page smashes an abundance of information in small areas and this leaves you to focus primarily on the background. The bright red background. In addition to the small areas of text, the text they do provide is extremely hard to read. The links on the left hand site are incredibly small.

I truly do want this site to be appealing for the great good of the area, but I don't think it is there yet. It may be time for these creators to hire a website designer and truly share the riches in the area with the world. It seems like this area has a lot to offer.

Where's Ernie?

Ah... it is not hard to realize that just about anyone can build a website. I think that is very clear from a few of our previous posts. I recently came upon a site that was nearly blinding in design and somewhat shocking in content.

A man going by the name Bert has provided us with "A Menu of Junk" to review in disgust. It's is hard for me to say what first caught my eye and lead me to label this a horrible, ugly page. I would have to say that it is a combination of neon, smiley faces, a random tic-tac-toe in the background, and well... the content. What scared you more? The flashing of "Bert's Extra Junky Pages" or the fact that this person is providing food and bug information along with tips on begging. I know, it's hard to decide. Decisions, decisions.

I think I am going to go with the "French Lesson" tab. This little gem brings you to a whole other page that makes the landing page look like expert design. A Pharaoh, rotating stars, and the tackiest background of red and black. Treat yourself to this!

No Joking Here...

As you now know, I like to find just horrible sites and share them with you. I have found site after site that has provided us with many examples of poor design, confusing content, impossible color combinations and more. The fun of it all!!! Now, just for one post I would like to take a second to bring up one point that is often overlooked... dependability.

Many Chase bank users around the states found out that they could not access their personal, business, and saving accounts online last week. Now, many Chase users depend on the online functions daily. They check balances, review purchases, make transfers and so on. What happens when those features are just spontaneously gone for two days? Panic! According to Chase, the site was having technical difficulties. That statement may have made sense to some users, but many other less tech savvy individuals were left wondering what was going on.

Regardless of what the site looks like, sells, or offers it should run effectively. This especially rings true when users depend on a site daily. All jokes and lists of horrible design features aside, this single point may be any site's worst nightmare.

Hawaii What?!

Well, I am back to my theory... what am I looking at? That is the big question when you land on this site. Alright, alright. I get it. Something and everything to do with Hawaii, right? Luaus and coffee. What I don't get is where I should look or click first? Am I wanting to purchase coffee? What is with the random imagery? Why am I looking at coffee, nuts, CDs, stationary, and candles all on one page?

It is a well-known fact that Hawaii produces a variety of specialty coffees, teas, lotions, chocolates, macadamia nuts, and more that visitors love to buy. I am guessing this business and site was constructed to bring these specialties to people around the globe. Easy enough? Well, not really. How are visitors suppose to find their favorite products or even focus to understand what other products may be available? This site makes it literally impossible.

Poor design = confusing your visitors. Confusing your visitors with too many products on a page and too many colors is a major mistake. Then again, maybe they feel like they have to overwhelm their visitors with a wide variety of products to get them to stay. The only thing I can guarantee is that I will not be visiting or shopping on this site again.

I Hope She Shops Somewhere Else!

A friend on her quest to find the perfect bridal gown stumbled upon this gem. It seemed almost impossible not to share this with you! I am not exactly sure how she landed on this page, but I hope she redirected herself, especially on her search for bridesmaid dresses. I only say this because I do love her and well, I am one of her bridesmaids.
Hmmm... where to start?! Could you even decide what to look at first? I hope that you had your speakers on when you landed on the web page. The music truly added to the experience. Now what else should we mention? The neon writing? The crazy imagery? The pictures of tacky wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses?
I don't think I could leave this blog with out mentioning the insanely bad photography and the random shots of window pages towards the bottom. There is so much to look at, I would love to see what you thought stood out. Please tell me you say the random "rays of light" coming out of the head of the girl in yellow. Wow. It could take days to process everything on this site. My suggestion... shop elsewhere for your bridal needs.

Get Your Paint Buckets and Guns

Today, I am making an addition to my list of what constitutes as a poorly designed site. Are you ready? Here we go... tacking pop ups that hoover over ladies shooting cartoon guns. Bet you never thought you would see that one. Well you can and you will. Look at me!

The random paint splashes around the pop up are almost as annoying as the neon color selection spattered over the site. I really wasn't sure what to hate more. I don't like to play favorites. ;) If I were looking to purchase a car, this site would definitely scare me off and make me consider public transportation. Sitting next to a stinky man talking about his political views may be less hateful than shopping this site. How are companies like these succeeding and luring customers in? Are the worst websites actually representing solid, reputable companies? How can this be? Should I stop asking questions? ;)

I guess I might leave these questions to the marketing experts of the world. Still, as a consumer I think I have the obligation and right to share the worst, the horrid, the unbearable, the neon websites with the world. It's an exhausting job, but someone has to do it. On that note, Happy Labor Day all!

Fancy Packs and Links

I stated before and I will say it again, why do the worst websites get just as much attention as the good ones? Is the The Producers theory? Is it the need for people in society today to make fun of the bad in an attempt to make their own sites look better? What has reality TV done to us?!

My Theory

I have started compiling a list of things that sites do wrong, but regardless of the length of my list I do believe that here is one underlying theory behind all of this. Some people just have less than desirable taste. Bad sites full of color, Flash in thirty different places, and odd peculiar content is the website equivalent to a fanny pack on top of cut off jeans shorts. Black socks and Crocks included.

Back to My List

I did have one more to add… the Over Linkage. So, here we go… The Color Theory, Can You Add Anything Else, What Am I Looking At, All of This Flash is Burning My Eyes, and Over Linkage.

Over Linkage

Over linkage is simply over a dozen random links on one page that redirect you away from the primary site. Typically, when someone puts time and effort into building a site they want you to stay on it. If this doesn’t make sense, review my last post and it will all be crystal clear! J