Worst Websites
Daily Sucker #2 for Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 30th, 2009 2:02 am by Vincent Flanders
Submitter’s comments: As a grants administrator, one of my jobs is to find grants for our faculty. This is one of the worst web sites for a foundation that I’ve ever seen. There’s the constant motion over the logo (which is repeated on subsequent pages). This motion distracts the eye so that it’s hard to figure out that you have to click on either “ENGLISH” or the Arabic letters next to it to move to the next page. Which leads you to the Intro page, that also has a back and forth motion page.
After the Intro page, there are two different distracting elements – the row of flowers at the upper left, and a bunch of flowers floating around on the page, both of which are in constant motion. How do you find the pages with the information? Look for the little brown pouffy things in the upper right. Oh. I think those are discolored hydrangeas. For a major corporation, this web site. is just lame.
Vincent Flanders’ comments: Since it appears the site took in its last grant application on December 11, 2008, I agree this site is among the most horrible nonprofits I’ve ever seen.
There is so much that’s obviously wrong, I won’t even discuss it. What I find most amusing is they can’t spell “can’t” (they spell it “cant”) on the home page. That’s one of the reasons why Flash sucks. It’s hard to correct typos.
On the other hand, if this web site were active, it would be The Perfect Web Site. This is one of the most important and least-discussed elements of web design.
The reason is simple. They’re giving away money. Yes, they expect you to “do” something in return for the money, but they’re giving away money. Any site that gives away money has The Perfect Web Site — no matter what the site looks like.
The Kresge Foundation web site is perfect. The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation web site is perfect and, of course, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s web site is The Perfect Web Site.
Even if the designers at the Gates Foundation flipped out and made their site look horrible (Warning: audio involved), it will still be The Perfect Web Site. Repeat after me, “They’re giving away money.”
On the other hand, you’re not giving away money on your web site — heck, you’re probably asking for money or selling something — so your site can’t suck.
Since it seems to be out of commission, The Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants web site qualifies as the Daily Sucker.
Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design |