a web site can crumble down just like a houseVincent Flanders Presents:

The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004 (Part 2 of 2)

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I went through every Daily Sucker for the last year and I've come up with a list of what I think were the biggest web design mistakes.

These mistakes apply only to real sites — not personal, band, music, art, movie, experimental, fashion, and (some) sports sites.

7. Thinking your web site is your marketing strategy.

Note: I probably should put this item higher in the list.

Unless you're an online shop selling t-shirts, cameras — you get the picture — your web site is not your marketing strategy. Your web site is part of your marketing strategy. If you took orders over the phone, don't get rid of your phone banks. If you're successfully using direct mail, don't stop. Heck, if the Yellow Pages are working for you, continue to use them. The trick, and the hard part, is to find where your web site fits in your marketing program.

Here's a perfect example from an e-mail I received from a dear friend:

I have to tell you that I attended a board meeting today for the organization whose web site you checked out for me.

The board consists of really high end people who had flown in from all over the country! When push came to shove, they asked me what I thought about their ability to raise money by driving people to the web site.

I shared your response with them. Silence in the room. And then a couple of other board members acknowledged that it needed work, affirming that they had had the same impression but didn't have the expertise to say anything about it.

You can't put all your eggs in one electronic basket.

8. Site Lacks Heroin Content.

In his classic book, Naked Lunch, William Burroughs described heroin as the ultimate product. Why? Because people would crawl through the sewers and beg to buy it. In the non-drug world, there are very few products that can be classified as having heroin's appeal.

How many web sites have heroin content?

Heroin Content's characteristics vary by type of site — but you'll know it when you see it! One global characteristic, though, is frequently updated content. The best way to get people to come back to your site again and again is by having content they need, and then updating this content on a regular basis.

How do you create Heroin Content? The answer is, it depends on the likes and dislikes of your audience. Remember, it's what your audience wants that counts. What I consider Heroin Content is somebody else's Quinine Content.

Here are some thoughts about web content.

  • Does your content solve your customers' problems or does it create problems?

  • Does your content match your audience's expectations?

  • Have you determined the purpose of your site?

  • Do you know your target audience?

  • Ask yourself: "What content do I have that would cause anybody in their right mind to visit my site a second, third, or fourth time?"

    This is extremely important. You might con (seduce) someone to visit your site once, but why would they want If you can't answer this question, you really shouldn't have a Web site.

  • Is the content technically correct?

  • Does your customer need to know the content you're presenting?

  • Is the content current and updated frequently?

  • Can people find the content they're looking for?

  • Does my site have Heroin Content?

    The best content is the content people want to see over and over and over again.

I just got through reading that Bill Gates wants to start a blog. Why would anyone in their right mind want to read it? Do you think it will contain Heroin Content? As Seth Godin points out, blogs only work when they meet four of the following five conditions:

  1. Candor
  2. Urgency
  3. Timeliness
  4. Pithiness
  5. Controversy

Check out Bill's speeches. Unless he's chatting with a comedian, there's no Heroin Content. If his blog were like this one from a Microsoft employee who worked with Bill at the CES trade show, it might be interesting.

Do not use graphics for text9. Forgetting the purpose of text.

After ten years, you'd think web designers would understand how to use text, but they don't. Here are some helpful hints.

Text is Text. Don't use graphics or Flash for text. The first reason is it increases the size of the page; the second reason is it isn't search engine friendly; the third reason is the graphics are often of poor quality and are aliased (jaggy); and fourth, mistakes are hard to correct as this example demonstrates (it was originally created in Flash).

Gimme contrast. Web designers have fallen in love with creating text that doesn't contrast with the background.

One of the strangest set of text contrasts I’ve ever seen was at the University of Idaho Children’s Center (it's been fixed), with blue and black text on a green background. It certainly hurt the eyes. They also alternated the color of their links — now that’s a bad design technique you’ve probably never seen before.

Of course, they fixed their page, but the video below shows you the bad version.

If you're not sure about the contrast between the text and background at your site, check out your text contrast at JuicyStudio.

Don't use small text. Designers are also fond of using small text (especially on Flash sites). Hey, we're all getting older and as I often say, "If people can't see it, they will flee it." Here's an architectural firm that uses small graphics as text along with some of the worst Mystery Meat Navigation on the web.

You could be in trouble for putting too much on one page

10. Too much material on one page.

Yes, it's called a web page, but that doesn't mean you have to cram all your material on one page.

It's very easy to keep adding material to your home page until it gets out of control. Smaller business sites are especially susceptible because they fear they'll miss a sale.

With so much content vying for attention it’s initially impossible for the eye to settle on one thing. People get confused and people leave. Pages with lots of disparate material means you have failed to organize your site properly — probably a combination of not planning your site and poor navigation.

Most folks don't like to scroll.

People have expectations when visiting a web site

11. Confusing web design with a magic trick.

In Mistake #4 I said, "Don't confuse web design with sex." In Mistake #11 I'm going to tell you "Don't confuse web design with a magic trick."

Web design is the reverse of a magic trick. In a magic trick, you show the audience your right hand and perform the trick with your left. In Web design, you tell them where you’re going first—and then go there. People don't like surprises. It will certainly confuse them and it could make them angry.

If you're a dentist, then your web site should look like it belongs to a dentist, not to someone who is going to the opera.

Here are web site photos of two dentists. Only one looks like what you expect a dentist to look like.

Speaking of magic tricks, links should be clearly labeled so your visitors won't be surprised when they click. I made a mistake of not labeling a Daily Sucker and received the following e-mail:

Because I use your site for design considerations, I access your site at work. You probably know where I'm going with this, but ...it might not be a bad idea to warn folks when the content is going to be "racy."

Don't get me wrong, Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue is tame (and in my view, the models are gorgeous), but some of us work in an environment of hyper-sensitivity! It would be nice to know when my PC is going to be non-PC so I can at least glance over my shoulder. (I know I could look at the address on the status bar to get a clue, but...)

Here's a link to what he thought was racy.

If you use a vague link description or just say"Click Here" and don't tell people where they'll end up, they could be horribly surprised (and/or shocked and/or disgusted) when they click here.

There is more than one kind of Flash

12. Misusing Flash.

Just as a raincoat is a tool that can be used for good or evil purposes, Flash is also just a tool that can be used for good or evil. It all comes down to how it's used and who is using it.

Unfortunately, there's a tendency to misuse Flash and because of space I can't go into every detail. Nevertheless, here's a perfect example of FlashGoneBad courtesy of one of the contestants from the TV show "The Apprentice."

You have to watch a boring, soundless, twenty second flash intro with no option to skip it. If you're still around when the content loads, the pain doesn't stop. There is a lovely 8 or 10 second delay between when you click one of the navigation options and when the content actually arrives. Omarosa

Annoying Flash Techniques I Have Witnessed

I've noticed some interesting Flash mistakes that are worthy of comment.

  • Forgetting to put a "Skip Intro" button, forcing visitors to see your stupid FlashSplash page every time they visit. The problem could be "solved" by setting a cookie so visitors only see the animation once unless they click a button to "play it again, Sam."

  • Putting a "Skip Intro" button on the page. Of course, we all realize that a "Skip Intro" button signifies that the content on the page is worthless. Good Web designers only put content that must be viewed on a page. By giving them the option to skip this material, you're saying it's not worth seeing. If it isn't worth seeing, why do you have it on your site in the first place?

    No, I'm not trying to have it both ways. An introductory Flash animation is a Splash page. Splash pages, as we learned long, long ago, are not necessary.

    If you must have a "Skip Intro" button, make it big enough so people can see it and have it available as soon as the animation starts. Don't wait 10 seconds to load the button.

  • Making people listen to music. If you have (original) music in your Flash animation, give people the option to turn off the music.

    And if people turn the off the music on one page, it means they don't want to hear it on any other page. There are dozens of sites where the programmer hasn't figured out how to make the music stop on all pages. They have a "Stop the Music" button on each page. Arrgh!!! A good example that may not be work appropriate (see, I warned you) is a fashion site where if you turn off the music on the FlashSplash page and click "Enter", the music automatically comes back on. The designer should be whipped (unless s/he likes to be whipped).

  • Creating a "non-Flash" version of a site that still includes some Flash animation. If you have an HTML version of your Flash site, make sure there's no Flash. There are few things stupider than using Flash in a non-Flash Web site.

I'd like to mention that you often find Flash with Mystery Meat Navigation — taking one bad technique and making it four times worse.

Then again, the New York Times brilliantly used Flash and MMN on their feature "A Look at 1000 Who Died" (registration required).

You can view the casualty list by last name, branch, date of death, home town, home state, gender, age, type of death, and "other." On the "Other" page, they could use some contrast. Black type on brown background is hard to read.

When Flash works the results are powerful.

people will wait for naked or dead bodies13. Misunderstanding graphics.

Graphic mistakes make the list because they keep showing up again and again.

Like Flash, there are so many ways to misuse graphics. I'm amazed by the number of sites with ugly graphics and the number that still use animated GIFs.

Some of the mistakes include using GIF for JPG, large graphics, ugly background images, lack of contrast (text isn't the only place you can mess up), ALT= attribute not set, inappropriate graphics, and dozens of others.

Just say no to FrontPage

14. AFFrontPage.

Whenever there's a site that makes you wonder whether Jesus died in vain, the odds are it was created by Microsoft's (Af)FrontPage.

The Daily Sucker has featured a number of these "Car Wrecks on the Information Highway" sites. Sites like The Enchanted Harp, Stillwater Players, and The Northbridge Police Department.

The worst part of FrontPage is when someone uses those evil, ugly, and Satanic Microsoft Themes.

Maybe that explains why Microsoft doesn't use FrontPage to create pages on Microsoft.com — even the pages discussing FrontPage. If Microsoft doesn't use it, why should you?

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