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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.

Stop Promoting Websites That Don’t Follow Web Standards And Are Hard To Read

February 15th, 2011 10:10 pm by Vincent Flanders

I’m tired of reading articles about “Websites That Will Inspire You” that feature sites that don’t follow web standards for contrast. These standards are for the visually impaired, but you don’t have to be blind to not be able to read the content on many websites.

As AccessKeys points out:

“The W3C recommends a standard of 500 or greater for the color difference and a standard of 125 or greater for color brightness.” These recommendations are in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

Some designers act that these standards are only important if you want to have an accessible website. If we were only concerned about accessibility, we could just say, “Screw ’em, they’re blind” and go on the way we’ve been going for years. Unfortunately, people who aren’t blind or vision impaired have difficulty reading these pages.

I’m not asking much, I just want to read your text and see what you have to say is of interest. If I can’t read it, I will leave it. So will anyone with a brain in their head.

Since I don’t critique web design firms as it would appear to be a conflict of interest (even though I don’t offer design services), I won’t point out which websites suck in the following article. Fortunately, the article is not just limited to design firms.

My readers are smart. You’ll be able to figure out which websites suck.

Stop Promoting Websites That Don’t Follow Web Standards And Are Hard To Read

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


BJ The Clown – Example of Bad Web Design for February 3, 2011

February 3rd, 2011 1:01 am by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: I was actually looking for a friend of mine who operates under the same name. I was just about to drive round and smack him upside the head, but it turns out this isn’t his page.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: I’m sure he can’t change the name “BJ The Clown,” but I think I would. As this screen shot demonstrates, the home page is amazing—especially when you have your monitor in portrait mode. I don’t think this tiling is acceptable. The use of frames has its drawbacks. On the home page, there’s a link to the home page. This is always a bad idea, but it’s especially bad when you use frames. As this screen shot illustrates, it loads the home page over itself.

BJ is from Portland, Oregon, a city much beloved by yours truly. One of the funniest new shows on cable is Portlandia, a “dreamy and absurd rendering of Portland, Oregon. ”

BJ The Clown

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


Red Carpet Theater Productions – Example of Bad Web Design for February 2, 2011

February 2nd, 2011 1:01 am by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: This site features “instant on” music, Flash animation out the wazoo, scroll screens galore and a horrible “ping” noise every time you mouse over one of the items on the page.  Truly a sucker.  Enjoy!

Vincent Flanders’ comments: It’s truly a sucker. Let’s not forget the contrast problems. Generally, people want to see your links. It always amazes me that people think they have the legal right to put music files on their web sites. I guess they didn’t read Why You Can’t Use Music On Your Web Site.

Red Carpet Theater Productions

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design |


The Daily Sucker – Examples of Bad Web Design for January 26, 2011

January 26th, 2011 5:05 am by Vincent Flanders

Carpal Tunnel Surgery Sucks. I’ve been laid up with CT surgery this last week and I was suffering a lot of pain and numbness before the surgery. My typing skills right now are horrendous, so I’m going to limit my commentary. Limit it to zero. Just the submitter’s comments.

Daily Sucker #1: Gordon Wayne Watts Official Research Page

It’s a toned-down version of your Over-The-Top Websites. It lacks the gaudy colors and the violently moving animated GIFs that OTTWs have. Then there’s the stupid music. If the stories lined up, I wouldn’t bother suggesting it the Daily Sucker.

Gordon Wayne Watts Official Research Page


Daily Sucker #2: Joxer Daly’s

I came across this website after reading the reviews on Yelp. The reviews are mostly positive but the web page really sucks! The menu is a slideshow that rotates every 5 seconds. Why it rotates, I do not know and I can not read that fast. So they give you a way to stop the rotation by moving your mouse over the thumbnail. The only problem is after you stop the rotation you can only read the top half of the menu. If you move your mouse to scroll down it starts to rotate again and there isn’t a way to stop it from rotating on the bottom half of the page. Horrible design.

Joxer Daly’s


Daily Sucker #3: Essex Primary

Here’s my suggestion for the Daily Sucker.

Essex Primary


Daily Sucker #4: J.C. Enterprises Quality Woodstoves

This company is been in business since the late 1970’s selling stoves and they do print advertising all the time with this website listed as the contact. You can’t read a lot of the links and that background graphic is from 1996.

J.C. Enterprises Quality Woodstoves

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


Michael Savage – Daily Example of Bad Web Design for January 7, 2011

January 7th, 2011 6:06 am by Vincent Flanders

Submitter’s comments: Thought this one would perhaps make honorable mention?

Vincent Flanders’ comments: It’s an honorable mention. Barely. It’s a toned-down version of an Over-The-Top Website. It lacks the gaudy colors and the violently moving animated GIFs that OTTWs have. If the stories lined up, I wouldn’t bother making it the Daily Sucker.

The home page scores well on Page Speed and Yslow. Most of the front-end problems are caused by all the ads. I’m actually impressed.

Michael Savage

Posted in Daily Sucker, Usability, Web Design |


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