The Daily Sucker

Submitter comments: I was shopping for fountain pens and came across this site that has a menu loaded with Flash. It crashes my web browser (Firefox) every time I visit it.

I eventually did end up buying a pen from them, though on a faster computer, because they have really low prices. I just received my package today, and their web site says nothing about their service; they even handwrote a little message on the packing slip.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: It’s really fortuitous this site came along. I recently have become interested in learning Japanese calligraphy. My fascination might be due to my recent addiction to Zatoichi (座頭市 Zatōichi) and other samurai films. On the downside, my grades in penmanship at St. Andrew’s Parochial Grade School never rose above “Poor.”

This site violates an amazing amount of good web design rules as I discussed in Does My Web Site Suck? Checklist 1 . Just a few of its violations:

• Flash navigation
• Graphics don’t blend with background (white graphic background on light blue page background)
• Graphics are reduced by changing HEIGHT= and WIDTH= attributes rather than physically changing file sizes.
• Home page is 1.33Mb.
• Everything is centered.

ISellPens