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Worst Web Site for 2009 - Haiti News NetworkBad Web Design Is Over-The-Top

The most horrible looking web sites use what I call "Over-The-Top" web design techniques. Web sites that use Over-The-Top design discuss topics like philosophy, religion, politics, end times, etc. — but they're generally not mainstream. The Catholic Church won't use Over-The-Top design, but "Accept Jesus, Forever Forgiven!" will.

These sites are all guilty of Mistake #5 from my article Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015 — "Have you ever seen another web site? Really? Doesn't look like it." You can't tweak these sites to make them better. You have to send in a flight of F-4's armed with napalm and start over.

Many of these sites have been included in "The Worst Web Site of 2005-2008" or are contenders for Worst Web Site of 2009.

Over-the-top Web Sites


these web sites are candidates for worst web site of 2009The Worst Web Sites of 2009:
January — October

It's going to be a good year for bad web design. Out of the first 118 Daily Suckers, 44 are bad enough to be in contention for The Worst Web Site of 2009. Theoretically, we could have around 90 contenders by December 31!

Worst Sites: Jan. - March #1-13
Worst Sites: Jan. - March #14-24
Worst April-June #1-10
Worst April-June #11-20

you shouldn't use tacky animated images to say it's a new articleWorst July - October #1-10

you shouldn't use tacky animated images to say it's a new articleWorst July - October #11-20

The governor of Oklahoma's web site is so inspiringGorgeous Websites From The Late 90's To Inspire You — If You Have No Taste

Recently there was an article about how popular web sites looked in the late 1990's. While it's interesting to see what Adobe or Apple looked liked back then, there isn't much you can learn from these sites. I'm also not sure how much inspiration you can get from looking at any kind of good examples. Looking at this middle-aged man is not going to inspire me to get off my rear end (may be NSFW) and excercise, It's going to depress me and I'm going to head toward the refrigerator.

On the other hand, you can really learn from and be inspired by web sites that are featured on Web Pages That Suck — especially those from the late 90's. At the very least, you can learn to take the other direction. More importantly, you'll feel good about your design skills because nobody ever looked at the examples on Web Pages That Suck and said, "I'm a horrible designer because I can't create these kinds of web sites." When you leave this site, you'll feel good about your design skills.

Gorgeous Websites From The Late 90's To Inspire You — If You Have No Taste

worst web sites of 2008

The Worst Web Sites Of 2008

Like every year since 1996, I hoped that the current year would be the year when we'd only have 10-15 sites that were truly awful. Dream on. I suspect I had 130+ candidates for the top ten. I haven't seen so much crap since the guys at Evergreen Plumbing opened my septic tank and let me look inside.

Here are the categories:

  1. Worst Web Sites of 2008
  2. Worst Web Sites of 2008: Navigation
  3. Worst Web Sites of 2008: Old School Design
  4. Worst Web Sites of 2008: Cops and Chiropractors
checklist of bad design

Checklists of Bad Web Design

Smashing Magazine put these lists under the category "Ultimate Web Design Checklists" and said:

This checklist from Web Pages That Suck is one of the most complete checklists out there.

My two web design checklists make web site redesigns simpler

You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on seminars or spend hundreds of dollars on books to find out what's wrong with your web site.

I'm giving you the tools to do the job yourself. Just compare your site against two easy-to-use checklists and find out if your site sucks.

Does Your Web Site Suck? — Introduction

Does Your Web Site Suck? Checklist 1 — 148 ways you're killing your site.
Does Your Web Site Suck? Checklist 2 — 82 ways you're maiming your site.

What do I do now? — Hopefully, fix what's wrong.
What we clicked on in Checklist 1 — See mistakes others have made.
Top 30 Web Design Mistakes — See the most "popular" mistakes.

Don't make these common web design mistakesThe Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

I've gathered what I think are the biggest web design mistakes committed during the period 1995 to 2015. Yes, it is a little facetious to say these mistakes will be made in the year 2015, but it's human nature to repeat your mistakes over and over. But it's human nature to repeat your mistakes over and over.

If you could take away one thought from the article, I would like it to be "Visitors to your web site don't care about your problems. They want you to solve their problems now.

The Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

The Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

  1. We've designed our site to meet our organization's needs (more sales/ contributions) rather than meeting the needs of our visitors.
  2. A man from Mars can’t figure out what your web site is about in less than four seconds.
  3. Focus, dammit.
  4. Using design elements that get in the way of your visitors.
  5. Thinking your web site is your marketing strategy.
  6. Have you ever seen another web site? Really? Doesn't look like it.
  7. Navigational failure.
  8. Using Mystery Meat Navigation.
  9. Site lacks Heroin Content.
  10. Forgetting the purpose of text.
  11. Too much material on one page.
  12. Confusing web design with a magic trick.
  13. Misusing Flash.
  14. Misunderstanding the use of graphics.
  15. Mystical belief in the power of Web Standards, Usability, and tableless CSS.
  16. Javascript.

Learn how bad web design kills your siteAbout Web Pages That Suck

Looking at bad web site design is valuable because it gives us the opportunity to learn from other people's mistakes without having to make them ourselves.

Winston Churchill once said, "All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes." If you go through this site and learn from all the mistakes you see, you will be a very, very wise web designer and be able to take a bad web site and change it into a good web site.

Great web design is an art and occurs when design and content are seamless and you don't notice its greatness. With great web design, it's easy to find the information you need. The content makes you want to return again and again and, most importantly, great design gives credibility to the company/organization.

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