Your Email Address

It goes without saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is ugly to some is beautiful to others and for those of us that spend time online we realize our vision of beauty can differ from site to site. Ugly sites are always debatable.

Some of the most popular sites that we frequent often are the most ugliest to others. Your bank website, favorite shopping forum, or even your favorite place to get information may be the ugliest site on the web to others. In any case, when we visit our favorite sites we are likely to give our email address over to the company for future updates or information. Stop and think how many times you type in your email address to buy a product, receive email blasts, or log into a site to check your email.

Today, more than ever, many individuals are getting emails from their banks, grocery stores, and other trusted businesses informing them that their information has been comprised. Ugly sites and beautiful sites are both prone to attract hackers on a mission to obtain, exploit, and sell your information. Everything from email addresses to your social security number can be stolen from professional hackers. Regardless of what sites you choose to make fun of, do your best to safeguard your information.

A Contest?

On my search for the most ugly and mind-blowing website I have come across a variety of contests that promote this type thing. Yep, I said contest. So, while I am not promoting or condoning any of this behavior I just wanted you to know that those type of things are out there. I mean if that is your thing.

Some create ugly websites not knowing there are ugly and others create them knowing that attention will be driven to their sites because of it. Regardless of what type of design you opt to try you have to make sure your company and your website is protected. Malware, spyware, and viruses are not fun. If they are happening on your work computer or system they can cause even greater damage.

Business information and customer information must be safeguarded. Please, please, please, make sure your consumer and corporate information is protected regardless of what design choices you make on your site. This is not to say that a ugly website won't draw my attention! These comments are just to say that regardless of your website or business it is your job to protect your information and your consumers.

The Reality Is...

...that we find them, we make fun of them, yet they still continue to exist. The age old argument can easily come into play when talking about poor design choices and awful websites. Are they awful for a reason?

Ugly can help drive more traffic than "pretty" in some cases. If you are gaining attention for your ugly website than your business might be gaining attention that otherwise you might not get. In the vast abyss of online life it is nearly impossible for users to visit every site on the planet. A business must differentiate itself and an ugly site can help to do that.

So, what came first? The chicken or the egg? The ugly site or the qualified designers that understood the site was horrible? This conversation could go on and on, but in the end we understand our purpose here. Find the bad site, share them with you, and maybe have a laugh or two along the way. And, maybe, just maybe help a company gain some online traffic.

Have a good weekend everyone! Try not to over think the whole chicken or the egg thing. :)

Yep, That Happened

Oh, I wish I could take credit for finding this one, but it was actually suggested by a friend. Yep, other people find ugly sites too. :) This is nuts!

This is one of those sites that you can only look at for a few minutes at a time before your eyes begin to strain and burn. Go ahead and try! I can look for about 2 minutes and then my head starts to throb. I have to say, I do like the flags waving in the air. How can you go wrong with animated flags?

They have a wide selection of fabrics and also a wide selection of very tiny photos they would like to share with you. Are we looking at the owners, employees, and stock room? Do you really even care to try to answer that question?

Like I said before, it is too intense to stare at for extended periods of time so I can't honestly discuss the content. I however can question the abrupt changes from red to yellow to hot pink and more. Did anyone even continue to scroll down? Go, ahead and treat yourself. The colors continue to change and the pictures continue too.

What's Worse?

Did anyone create that app yet? Sorry, I couldn't resist. Have you noticed how many apps there actually are to purchase or try out these days? It is almost impossible to choose one without wanting at least 10 more. Gotta stay up with the trends, right?

Speaking of staying up with the trends... is it wrong to miss leg warmers. Sure, outdated fashion can be bad, but is it as bad as this. Surely not. Sorry, I can't help to continue to refer to this site. It makes me laugh and cry from seeing yellow spots at the same time.

Hmmm, what other out of place fashion can we relate to horrible websites. Is it worse to see shoulder pads built into a shirt or this? Would you rather see someone still rocking neon (mesh optional) or would you rather see this? Difficult to answer. We don't blame you.

I guess just like fashion, the worst of the worst is hard to ignore. Then again, why would you? It's hard not to look at an outfit gone wrong and it's even harder to ignore a website that is just plain ugly. Multiple colors and horrific background included.

Is There An App for That?

Here is a thought. What if there was an app that you could click that could transform a site from really horrible to really great? Well, I understand that may be too much to ask, but what about sites that cater to the many devices we visit them from? Mobile versions, iPad versions... shouldn't all the pages fit the screen?! It can't be that hard because I visit sites that are already up to speed.

Sure, sure you get used to seeing a mobile website versions when you visit your bank online, but are there any other sites that cater to your on-the-go lifestyle? Personally, minimizing pages, maximizing text, and trying to figure out how to center that one part of the page you need to see on that tiny mobile screen can make anyone crazy. Even more crazy that finding this.

What are your thoughts friends? Do your favorite sites need to get with the "mobile" layout so you can have a more relaxed search from your phone.? After all, where exactly are you reading this blog from? For now, at least I know I can check my bank account from my mobile phone and actually find the numbers and information I need on my screen.

Have You Been Patient?

Well, instead of giving you a link I would like to give you a question. Are you ready for this? Sure, you have been patient, but now I am asking you a question instead of giving you something horribly ugly to look at. Just bear with me!

The question... How do you rate sites that give you downloadable coupons? We have to tell you that we have recently been on a few and found them less than helpful.

Why you ask? Well, some of the less than helpful sites provide links to content that made absolutely no sense, linked to non-existent coupons, and just provided feedback on products with no coupons to be found. The question I guess is two-fold. Do you use coupon sites and do you find them easy to navigate through?

I guess in short, what I am trying to say is that sites that don't promise what they say they can offer are annoying. Whether it be coupons, products, reviews, or anything in between sites need to step up to the plate and provide what they say they will. Make sense? I sure hope it does because we are looking long and hard for examples of these types of sites to share with you.