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

I hate forms. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, WPTS is a form-free zone. However, they’re insanely important for most sites and here’s “Best Practices in Form Design,” a free, downloadable, 133-page PDF (4.37Mb) from the guy who wrote the book on forms.

Download the PDF

Today, April 20 — which is Hitler’s birthday — seems like a good time to talk about a disturbing trend in web design.

Read the article

Not the Daily Sucker – Information Architecture TV: Wireframes

Check out the site. Content doesn’t suck.

Website Wireframe Lecture from Chrissy Kimball on Vimeo.

I’m spending a lot of time working with web page speed. I discovered an interesting factoid: if you throw all your HTML, Javascript, CSS and graphic files in the same directory (and modify your files to account for this), your pages will load 20-30% faster. Of course, I wasn’t a math major.

Submitter’s comments: Here’s one that really sucks!

Vincent Flanders’ comments: Yes, but it sucks in such an interesting way. Here’s a screen shot of what the home page looks like to the average visitor. Here’s what I find “amusing:”

1. The focus is definitely the logo. Even so, what does that buy you? I suspect most people who end up at the site know where they’re going. The web is all about expectations and your job, as a designer, is to meet those expectations. Logos are supposed to be unobtrusively “there” at the top-left of the page.
2. If you’re using horizontal navigation, it’s supposed to be at the top of the first screen — not down in the middle.
3. I realize it’s a golfing site, but the golf clubs are not a good idea to use for your navigation.
4. Fortunately, you can read most of the text — because it’s quite large and has to be large because it’s white on a black background.
5. The TITLE tag on the home page is “home page,” which isn’t very helpful for search engine optimization purposes. Speaking of SEO, I’m taking an ADHD detour here to mention Google’s own SEO Report Card. The description is at the Webmaster Central Blog. It talks about their failure to meet their own guidelines (which include the TITLE tag) and there’s a 49-page PDF file you should read.
6. There are pictures at the bottom of the page which seem to be centered, but they clash with the bottom navigation which tries to be centered.
7. The subpages are too long.

There’s lots more, but this list is a start.

Southern Crescent Tour