What are some examples of bad web design?

[roggy]

As title asking: "What is the worst piece of web design ever?"
If possible, please share your screenshots as examples of bad web design
I would like to know to avoid on my web site templates.

 

[Mike001]

Roggy,

I was going through some old posts and happened to see this one and I thought to myself, I'll bet he wonders why this was not responded too. Let me try to explain at least in my opinion why this is such a loaded question.

What is bad web design? When you design a site that does not meet the expectations of your audience that is a poorly designed site. The keyword being audience. As a web developer and designer we never truly know the expectations of our audience until the site is online. We can do focus groups, surveys, beta testing, and have all our buddies look through the site design and test it in an online test mode but until it gets online and in front of your audience you will never really know the response to the site.

Anyone on this site, that has been designing websites for awhile, has had a poor site design. Some worse than others. I have had many poorly designed sites over the years. Not intentionally, but based on the users responses, user input, types of traffic, bounce rates, etc, some just did not work out. After developing hundreds of sites that would be expected. It is how you respond to them that separates the professionals from the amateurs.

When we start seeing trends on a new site we study the trends and try to make corrections to the site to adjust to those trends. Most times the site can be saved and resurrected other times we will have to start over. It is all a process. Web site development is so dynamic and based on so many different technologies that you are constantly learning and adjusting to a constantly changing market. That is the reason that most of us love the industry it is constantly changing and we are constantly learning. The things that drive your audience today may have absolutely no bearing on your audience in a year. That is what you will need to keep up with and actually it is quite challenging but very rewarding.

That is one of the reasons sites like WebMasterSun are so popular. The professionals in this industry understand how hard it is to get started and learn the industry and will share most anything they have learned. Most of us that have been around awhile learned most things the hard way. 12 years ago we did not have resources like these or anyone that wanted to share what they knew.

So examples of a bad web design. Look around the web, if you are interested in a product or service and you find it difficult to use a site that claims to offer those products or services, that is a poor web design. We have a saying in development, if it takes more than 3 clicks to get where you need to go on a site, you designed it poorly, rethink the design.

Oh and by the way, if you were thinking about visually poor design, that is a whole new bucket of worm and is totally subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are some sites that I have seen that are just annoying to look at. But you know what, they are very popular. It all depends on your audience.

 

[Developer]

If you're talking "visually appalling", here are a few I can think of:

1. [URLnofo]http://thebiguglywebsite.com[/URLnofo]
2. [URLnofo]http://www.lingscars.com[/URLnofo]
3. [URLnofo]http://www.arngren.net[/URLnofo]
4. [URLnofo]http://theworldsworstwebsiteever.com[/URLnofo]

 

[Mike001]

I surrender you win.

I checked each one of the links and you are correct when you say the word appalling. Those are absolutely some of the worst designed sites I have ever seen. The funny thing is the "theworldsworstwebsiteever" is probably the best of the bunch.

There really should be a law about allowing anything like those examples to exist on the web.

I can assure you Roggy, I have had a few bad sites in my development years, but nothing that would even slightly compare to those.

Thank you Developer, you have shown us all that there is hope for all of us. If they can make it anything can.

BigUgly Website - Page Authority 41, Domain Authority 29

LingsCars - Page Authority 55, Domain Authority 46

Arngren - Page Authority 54, Domain Authority 46

TheWorldsWorst - Page Authority 48, Domain Authority 46

Sometimes seeing is believing.

 

[Developer]

The sad part is, like you pointed out previously, sometimes, you can actually have the UGLIEST website design, but as long as the content is there, sometimes it can be a real win... That car one, for example, is very ugly, but at one point, it was one of the most successful sites, in it's niche area... So, even with a dog-ass ugly site, sometimes that really doesn't even matter, LOL.

 

[Mike001]

I love it, "dog-ass ugly" that surely sums up some of those sites.

Hard to believe that was one of the most successful site. And to think I felt bad about a few of the sites I had put together. Nothing held a candle to those sites.

Thanks Developer, for the excellent input.

 

[Developer]

The saddest part is that there are tons of people out there who are still willing to pay for sites like that. Hell, a buddy of mine still has FrontPage installed on his PC and he manages to sell 3 - 4 FrontPage based templates/designs a week, and he gets $500 - $750 PER site, so, the bottom line is... as long as there are people willing to pay for them, ugly sites will continue to be put out there, lol. A lot has to do with the marketing as well, but that's an entirely different subject all together.

 

[Mike001]

No I know exactly what you mean. I started out as a Macromedia Flash developer many many years ago. I developed many sites that were Flash based, some that were nothing but Flash.

Over the last 6 years I have been trying to convince those businesses that they really need to move those sites to a more responsive format, I have even showed them the traffic stats from their site on the traffic they are losing by not having a site designed with the newest technologies and being more responsive. It's like pulling teeth, they are content with the sites the way they are. These are successful and some very successful businesses I just don't get it. But it like one of them told me, they were so pleased with the original design, how easily they could add content, change content and update the site, they would just stay like that. I just shook my head, because we all know with the way designs are now it would even be easier for them.

But it is what it is. They will make the changes, they will just do it at their own pace.

 

[Developer]

It's amazing though how "comfortable" some of the more successful business owners can get with their older sites, isn't it? I have one guy who does very well, over 6 figures a year, BUT, he could do 4x the amount with just a few small changes but he is very happy where he is right now (financially) and his response is always "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and at some point, you just gotta sit back and let it be, you know. But that's ok, because when the time finally comes, they will track you down, and then... you get to charge a premium price because they're seeking you out this time around, lol...