December 15th, 2011 12:12 am by Vincent Flanders
Submitter’s comments: I count:
- Sparkling
- Long, incoherent “splash” (?) page
- Big “SALE” GIFs and a credit card logo stripe, but no indication of what they’re selling
- Sparkling
- Four items on the “sitemap” don’t link to anything (Our Show Pictures Our Champions, About Us, Visit Our Chapel Room)
- For no apparent reason, the “family photo” at the top of the sitemap page looks startlingly like a Photoshop construction
- The “Home” page linked to on the sitemap has no text on it whatsoever
- The Home page also has a “Home” link, except this one points back to the sitemap
- Sparkling
- Largely unidirectional navigation (nothing links back up the tree)
- Inconsistent page designs
- The “Designs by Bev” image prominently displayed at the bottom of each page sometimes isn’t actually a valid mailto: href (SiteMap), and sometimes causes a popup window
- One confused man from Mars
- Did I mention the sparkling?
The music is catchy, though! And it’s in the WAV format – how considerate of them
Vincent Flanders’ comments: Those of you who thought my initial reaction to this site was “Jesus Christ!” were right. If the flamboyant Liberace were alive today and he looked at this website, he’d scream, “Stop it right now. There’s too much sparkling going on.”
For the life of me, I don’t get the use of the Standard White Jesus everywhere. The Jesus Of This Site is not 5’3″ tall and doesn’t weigh 110 pounds, which is what the archaeological evidence suggests for the real Jesus. I have an iPhone app I call My Personal Black Jesus and he dispenses wisdom each morning, but it’s OK to have Jesus on an iPhone app—and he’s on lots of them—but he doesn’t belong on a site for dogs. Hell, the Mormons don’t have a sparkly Jesus on their home page and they’re a religion. The Baptists don’t have him either. There’s a point here.
For the life of me, I don’t get how these people can look at their site and think, “This design is wonderful.” Go to your favorite search engine and key in “inspirational websites.” I don’t agree with a lot of their choices, but guess what? There isn’t a single inspirational website that looks like this. None.
Oh. I suspect the site is illegally using sound files. I guess they didn’t read my article Why You Can’t Use Music On Your Website.
My favorite page is the Toy Pomeranian Breeder page. If you somehow accidentally ended up on this page, the “Welcome Pombreden’s Adults for Sale” logo might make you think you stumbled upon a human trafficking website.
Pombreden’s Pomeranians
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |
December 11th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders
William Glenn & Son – Example of Bad Web Design for December 12, 2011
Submitter’s comments: This is Scottish, yet crap.
I came across this turkey when seeking out a Scottish gift shop in San Francisco that I remembered visiting previously, before my fiancée and I head out there tomorrow. I found the site for the store – unfortunately, first on my iPhone, which wouldn’t render this Flash-only monstrosity. (And, if not too obscure, my Subject reference is to the “All Things Scottish” series of “Saturday Night Live” skits Mike Meyers starred in in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s.)
Vincent Flanders’ comments: I love the tiles-on-amphetamine look the page has. Uh…aren’t liquor sites supposed to verify your age before you can see the content? Not that it works. It’s a joke, but at least they pay lip service.
William Glenn & Son
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |
November 15th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders
Submitter’s comments: It has some issues with the buttons, but real problem is how it set up its Search Engine Optimization. When you go to some of the other pages on the site, sometimes the buttons will appear over information, like the company phone number.
Vincent Flanders’ comments: I didn’t know people were still trying these old SEO tricks and I didn’t know they are still working–white text hiding behind a white image. For all I know, it’s not working. Paging Matt Cutts.
Steamed Clean
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |
November 13th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders
Submitter’s comments: I know I specialize in over-the-top sites, but this is not one. It is virtually useless, not even brochureware, and has been since 2008. I just love the watermarked ("istockphoto") pictures. I guess the owner does not mind telling the huge number of potential clients beating their way to his web site that he does not care to pay even the very modest fee for their usage.
Vincent Flanders’ comments: Pretty ballsy–or pretty stupid. I’m in a pretty good mood (3-day weekend with the wife) so I’ll just say it’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen anyone use comps and forget that they used them. I’m sure the designer just forgot to spend the pittance to license the images.
Mallard Adhesive
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |
November 6th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders
Submitter’s comments: I wanted to buy this product, but I can’t read (about) it.
Vincent Flanders’ comments: This screen capture shows the problems. If #666 is too light for text on a white background, imagine what how hard this site’s #888 and #999 are to read.
This is a big company.
Symantec – PartitionMagic
Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design |