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The Daily Sucker - Current examples of bad web design

The Daily Sucker

Sites featured in articles like Worst Websites of 2010 often are redesigned, which explains why some sites mentioned in my articles don't match their current look. The Daily Sucker features current examples of bad web design which haven't been fixed (yet).

If you see a site that you think sucks, email the URL to me. No personal pages (personal pages are supposed to reflect the individual's personality and artistic freedom) or web site designers (it would look like a conflict of interest), or others of their ilk.

If I think there's some merit to your selection, I may post it along with some commentary. If you know of a site that qualifies, let me know.

How Men And Women Look At This Half Naked Woman Differently

July 15th, 2011 5:05 pm by Vincent Flanders

An eyetracking study that is very, very interesting. Hint: men like faces and women like shoes. It’s presented as a slideshow. http://read.bi/pQBpMq

They also examine a web site for an automobile. Ironically, women look longer at the car than men do.

Think about this in terms of your website.

Posted in Daily Sucker |


Livestock Guardian Angels – Bad Web Design Example for July 14, 2011

July 13th, 2011 11:11 pm by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: I believe this is intended to be a commercial site for a breeder of livestock dogs and pygmy goats. However, the site is such a hot mess that I can’t figure out whether it is personal or business.

Either way, I don’t believe I’ll be purchasing my next puppy from these folks.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: I have never understood how someone could look at a home page like this and say, “Yes, this web page looks just fine.” No one has been able to explain this phenomenon to me. Then again, I just got an email from a site that’s a contender for Worst Website of 2011 and said he improved his website and wanted to know it still sucked. I swear to you that I can’t see a single change and even if it has changed it still sucks like Hurricane Katrina.

I can’t tell if this is a personal or business site—and that’s good enough to make it a Daily Sucker.

Livestock Guardian Angels

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |


SH Marketing – Example of Horrible Web Design for July 8, 2011

July 8th, 2011 3:03 am by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: Mystery Meat (Navigation) offender!

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Holy Mother of God. I’ve been on the web since early 1995 and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that just when you think you’ve seen the stupidest website on the internet, something comes along that’s much worse.

Of course, today’s sucker is Flash-based, but I suspect that if Jonathan Gay saw what his creation hath wrought on this website, he’d poke his eyes out in embarrassment.

This website is one of the few that will give Xerox Real Business competition as the Worst Website of 2011. My favorite page is System for Success. Just go there, you’ll understand why.

SH Marketing

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |


George R. R. Martin – Bad Web Design Example for July 7, 2011

July 6th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: This is George R. R. Martin’s official website. Sure this site looks like it comes from 1993, but call me crazy, I think it kind of works. I’d rather see something like this than say, J K Rowling’s mess of a website.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Two of the scariest words in the English language are “kind of.” I wouldn’t want to drive something that was kind of a car (well, I did own a Chevrolet Vega). Still you get my point. A website works or it doesn’t work. This one doesn’t. That’s why it’s the Daily Sucker.

Except for some Beat Generation writers, my reading tastes end with Euripides. I had no clue about George R. R. Martin’s writings so I looked him up in Wikipedia. Turns out he’s had a successful career, but you’d never know it by his website. It looks amateurish. The color choices are wrong for many reasons, but lack of contrast with the text is the major reason. AccessColor says that almost 67% of the home page fails its tests.

There doesn’t seem to be any navigation on the subpages except to click on his picture. The subpages are ugly, except for the blog page, which only has 20% of its text fail the contrast test. It’s not ugly because it’s on Livejournal and I suspect he used one of their pre-designed templates. I don’t understand what the animations are all about. Perhaps they mean something to his audience. To me, it means he has bad taste.

Maybe this site appeals to his audience. After all, he’s getting around 8,170 visitors a day.

George R. R. Martin

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |


Jeff Rense Program – Bad Web Design Example for July 6, 2011

July 6th, 2011 6:06 am by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: Whaaaattt???? Hopefully anyone checking this out is not looking for anything specific. Good luck finding it in this lifetime.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: When I went to this site I said, “Gee. I think I’ve used this before. The giveaway was the photo of Jeff Rense and his amazing hair. I checked and, of course, I had used it as the Daily Sucker on August 14, 2008. Since the site is so spectacularly bad, I thought it made the list of the Worst Websites of 2008. Nope. Well, I think I should give it another chance. Maybe it will make the Worst Websites of 2011.

For comparison purposes, here’s what his site looked like on August 12, 2008. This is what his site looks like today. Interestingly, AccessColor says today’s site has worse contrast than the one back three years ago. Back in 2008, here’s what I said about the site:

This site belongs to a category I call “Over the Top.” An “Over the Top” web site is just like pornography — you know it when you see it. Accept Jesus, Forever Forgiven (Warning: could cause seizures) is the perfect example.

“Over the Top” web sites generally deal with philosophy, religion, and politics, but they’re not mainstream. Rush Limbaugh’s site would fall into the “Over the Top” category, except he’s mainstream.

While the Jeff Rense Program site is world’s away from the “Accept Jesus” site, it makes use of the stereotypical lime green text intermingled with yellow text. Some text is centered, while other text is flush left and, of course, the page goes on forever. The background for the subpages looks straight out of 1996.

I also don’t know whether to be frightened by or jealous of Mr. Rense’s hair.

It took a long time to find any subpages—most links that I found were to other sites—but the subpage I found looked just fine. Otherwise, what I said in 2008 is valid—with the addition that a lot of the text is harder to read. That might not be a bad thing.

Jeff Rense Program

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design, Worst Web Sites |


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