Web Pages That Suck - learn good web design by looking at bad web design

Vincent Flanders’ comments: I was reading an article about the Apple Store’s design and ran across links to…guess what?…architects. Since architects produce wild websites or beautiful websites that suck, I had to go and visit some of their sites.

What’s the biggest mistake these high-end architects make? Well, they seem to love Satan’s CSS, which is the use of the color “gray” or #666 for text (666 is allegedly the sign of the beast). Why is this wrong? Because it’s difficult to freaking read. The W3C says it’s difficult to read and if architects don’t follow standards, their buildings fall down. Now, their websites fall down. I realize that pictures are what it’s all about for architects, but if you don’t want me to read the text, don’t write any text.

If you’re interested in having a solid foundation, AccessColor describes the intricacies of contrast really well, as does Wikipedia. A new website has taken up my cause about contrast and it’s called, logically enough, Contrast Rebellion. Since artists and architects think graphically, maybe if they look at Contrast Rebellion they’ll understand the importance of contrast and change their ways.

Perkins-Will