WebProNews

I asked you what your pet peeves were, and you let me know! Several of you made pointed comments about iEntry sites (I'll see what I can do there, but no promises). Thanks for all the great input. Now let's find out what really irks you when it comes to site design...

Every site I go to uses drop down box to fill in the state (i.e. NY) on a form. ANYBODY can type a two letter abbreviation quicker than reaching for the mouse to select from the drop down list. REALLY annoying.

My annoyance is website that force every link to open in a new page. I don't know whether it is because the page owner is so opinionated about their content that they can't understand the "turning of the page" beyong their site, or that the webmaster of these pages forgets that you can pick to open the page in another browser if you want. A big no-no to have *every* link opening into a new browser - drives me batty an slows your computer and connection significantly.

There are times when it is appropriate to have links point externally but not every one!

With regards,
Emma Skelton

Worst -- by far -- mouse trails!!!!
V. Wiedemann: "The Weedy Lady"

- Scrolling marquees, either in the pages or in the status bar: distracting, and the scroll rate is often very jumpy so it's not even a smooth movement

- Flash intros that you can't skip out of: take forever on a slow connection, and for a business site I just want information, not entertainment

- Looped background sound files: I can't believe there are people out there who still use these, but they do...

- Too many animated GIFs: distracting and takes a long time to load

- Popup/popunder windows

- "This site is best viewed using ... browser at ... resolution." Ahem, *usability*. They should design it for as many different browser/resolution combinations as possible.

Regards,
Alison

My biggest peeve that I see on way too many sites these days are the floating watermarks and menus, and logos. It makes me want to dive into the program, and remove it everytime. It was novel at one time for about 5 minutes, but even the clickable menu type watermark doesn't really serve an aesthetic purpose anymore. Keep it simple for me.

Rick Morris

The biggest one is ads that slide across the screen and block content. You're afraid to click on them to close them because of obvious reasons...

Greg Henle
Light Waves Graphics

One of my greatest pet peeves is navigating web sites designed by webmasters who should know better (i.e.: they work for large corporations and/or multi-national concerns, foreign government sites, etc.), that utilize style sheets with 7-, 8-, and 9-point font sizes -- when these are virtually illegible on 72dpi platforms such as the Macintosh OS. I've been to enough CSS tutorial sites and "accessibility/usability" sites to know that such small type sizes are not recommended if one wants to assure universal access and a user-friendly interface.

I've written countless critiques and pleaded with many webmasters to consider universal access as their mantra in site design, yet I'm amazed how many of the responses (out of the proportionately few that I get) seem to either not care or have stated a specific willingness to exclude an entire demographic of computer users from their visitor base.

It is clear that many webmasters do NOT follow your advice with respect to cross-platform and cross-browser site testing (or display any sensitivity toward color-blind users). Furthermore, although the W3C and many helpful tutorial sites offer a host of hints on "accessible design" -- there are a plethora of webmasters who seem either blissfully ignorant of Section 508 recommendations and other web design community standards, or they simply and arrogantly adopt the position that "others" should not be entitled to a user-friendly experience on their web sites.

I was recently told by the folks at MasterCard that their worldwide ATM search page is not intended to be compatible with Mac users, even though I pointed out that their competitor, Visa, manages to do quite well in that regard. Likewise, the French Government Tourist Office and Embassy have concluded that using a legible font size would necessitate redesigning their site's lay-out, which they are simply not prepared to consider. The list, of course, goes on and on.

Sure, I know that Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac (and possibly other browsers, too) allows the user to enlarge a page's type sizes manually -- but I firmly believe that a site's design should not REQUIRE doing this in order to be usable. There are enough "browser-sniffing" JavaScripts out there which can re-direct a user's browser to a platform-specific style sheet. However, even these would prove unnecessary if more webmasters adopted a philosophy that their basic web design should be accessible to the broadest audience possible, without requiring work-arounds and manual user responses.

I personally make it a practice to test our site regularly on both a variety of browsers as well as both Mac and Windows platforms. If I personally knew anyone (living or working near me) who operates daily on Unix and LInux OS, I'd be testing on these also.

However, even with my dogmatic position regarding universal access, I am not certain how to resolve the issue of site compatibility with the Web TV platform. I look forward to seeing input and opinions from others on the subject.

Cordially,

Ian C. Mills, Webmaster
http://www.discoverfrance.net

My main annoyance is not being able to resize the text. Sometimes it is so small that it is hard to read, and if I can't resize it, what's the point of staying?

only one peeve ...

The browser people need to clean up their act. As a page maker, I don't have time to worry whether Netscape 4.20645 can see my page. And for all those (12) webtv users, I recommend carbon paper (remember when we thought that was the cat's meow?).

If I can see it, so can you.
Rob McGee

Here's my 2 cents worth. My #1 design annoyance is when a website disallows the back button. Nothing irks me more, while searching for something in particular, then to press the back button & go nowhere. Now I am forced to start all over with my search. I think it is rude & uncalled for.

My #1 Pet Peeve:

You've filled out a long form with registration information (or a job application). You press SUBMIT and get a message saying you omitted some piece of required information. You press the BACK button as instructed and the form is completely blank.

I don't think anyone would intentionally cause this to happen but there must be some browsers or settings that clear the form. I understand time-out and security issues, but when you instruct the user to press the BACK button the form shouldn't be cleared.

Greg Clarke

Things To Remember When Designing Individual Product Pages

1. Is there enough information for the buyer to make a purchase decision?
2. Is the appropriate information included for purposes of searching? ***my biggest pet peeve is the search functionality not working properly
3. Specification information should be spelled out in attribute fields and not buried in description field.
4. Description field: General description of what the product is, applications, and benefits.
5. When setting up the fields take into consideration how it will lay out in product results page. The critical results that distinguish it from similar products should be listed first.
6. Consider linking to additional information like a web site if needed to help the buyer select or understand the product.
7. When creating an RFQ make a note that all fields must be filled out in order for RFQ to be submitted and if the buyer does not know what to put in they should type N/A.

Jennifer Hall, Project Manager
Representing the Services of Thomas Register and Top Floor Technologies

I hate pop ups. I hate new windows being continually opened. If your own website is good enough - you don't need to do either of these!

Gordon Fleming

One of the things that annoys me is the apparent lack of checking how the pages look in different browsers.

Trevor Oxborrow

My 3 biggest pet peeves when visiting a site are:
1. Font sizes that are too small to read.
2. A dark font color on a dark background color. and
3. Pop-up windows

Scott

Well beside the MOST obvious of a site that is painfully slow to display, I believe I have two pet peeves and they are (1) poor or inconsistent site navigation, whereby the site has no easy way to move throughout, and (2) when a site has long pages and there is no "top of page" or site navigation at the bottom of these pages and visitors are forced to scroll a lot.

I'm sure you will receive lots of responses for this. Being a web/graphic designer, my list alone is too huge to publish. I remain very sensitive to all these things when designing web sites...they must be usability-friendly.

Bobbi

As a user of the net with a slow Verizon connection (I'm in the mountains of NC) I drop a site that takes too long to load.

I often get the feeling that the things are so slow because the creators want me to sit here reading the banner ad across the top of the screen. THAT usually comes up quite fast!

Like many women, my life is so busy I don't have the time or patience to wait around for slow content. Fortunately, there usually are many other sites to choose from.

Mary Hooper, writer

My personal pet peeve is an e-commerce site that makes you sign in, or sign up, or enter a credit card number before allowing you to see the shipping charges.

= Sound that I can't turn off or even turn down!
= Blinking, moving, annoying, distracting anything.
= POP-UPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
= Fonts that I have to download.
= Frames that I can't scroll, but are too big to fit on my screen.
= Mizspelt words.
= Text that's too small.
= Busy backgrounds.
= No site map or seach box on a large site.
= A design that overpowers the content.
= Gratuitous Flash. If your site has a link that says Skip Intro, then the intro is gratuitous!

Suzanne Leonard

#1 - this will get me to leave a website instantly. Resize my window, and I am gone. I don't care WHAT the website is. It's just about like you rang my doorbell, and when I opened the door, you pushed me down, and started moving your own furniture into my house. It's that bad!

#2 - colors used like a paintball gun. Yellow on black, Red blue and black used like a meat packing plant.

#3 - Sound - nothing worse than browsing around listening to my favorite CD (Alicia Keys) and getting blasted with a MIDI rendition of God Bless America. Suxor.

#4 - Pop up windows - I don't mind one that's related to the website - but one every page? About.com has to be the one that I actively avoid thats a "pro" website.

#5 - Fixed fonts - sometimes my eyeballs just don't focus as well as another day. (Could it be the Martinis last night?) so I need to use the LARGE font size selection.

Kevin Hill, Vice President/Webmaster
Toolup.com

Thanks for letting me rant,
Anne Lawrence, Project Manager
CITEC, Inc. - Manufacturing & Technology Solutions

The two things that bug me most these days have to do with newsletter subscriptions:

1. After someone subscribes to a site's newsletter, why keep displaying the newsletter subscription box? In the physical world we'd never keep asking an acquaintance the same question over and over again (e.g., "Would you like to come over this weekend and see pictures from my trip?" "Sorry, I'm busy this weekend." "Well, would you like to come over this weekend and see pictures...." The solution is to use data in the subscriber's profile to recognize that they are already subscribed and -not- display the newsletter subscription box.

2. When subscribers return to a site that has many newsletters, why not show which newsletters the person has subscribed to and which are not subscribed? When going to a site to unsubscribe to just one of several newsletters from a site, it surprises me when they don't show which newsletters I've subscribed to.

I realize that I'm especially sensitive to these annoyances because we council our hosting clients on how to keep from making these mistakes, but it's amazing how many sites don't use a profiling system to avoid these annoyances.
Cliff Allen
Coravue

What I hate most (the sites I visite are mostly 'technical', that is, industry, products, services):

- Splash page with the company name in the middle pulsing like a heart or revolving gracefully plus the word 'Enter' or the image of a door, or worse nothing at all, so you have to guess where you must click to see the rest. If course it took about two minutes to load.

- The word WELCOME

- First page with the company story. I couldn't care less - I need information on a cylinder or on a pump - especially when they proudly inform that they were 'Founded in ....'.

- Company story containing words such as 'Our philosophy....' but they make door handles ...

- Page name called 'Contacts' containing address, phone and fax numbers, and that's all. They could have saved me a click by adding this information on any other page.

- email address hiding behind a revolving image of an envelope

- Visitors' counter (takes some time to load because it must load the cgi)
with the text 'You are .... vistor', and who cares?

- Dead links or worse: link to a construction page with a little man working (takes a lot to load). Worse is when they add 'Come back later'.

- Text columns spread through the whole screen width (usually sites made in-house)

- Busy backgrounds and small images blinking and flashing around the screen.

- Images showing people (usually a family with a little blonde girl) laughing happily and the site is about, say, bricks and concrete. What do they have to laugh about?

- Loud music that explodes suddenly as the page opens (waking up my cat) and that I cannot turn off (well then I remeber I can use my keyboard button).

- when they use keywords that have nothing to do with their site.

and oh, above all, when the site takes over my browser and hides my control bar.

Regards,
Valeria Vernon
VERNONDATA

I hate it when the designer sets the font size so small that I can't read
it. I have to change the browser setting to get the text large enough.

Stephen MacKinnon
Athens District High School

My biggest peeve is when a website incorporates a whole bunch of different looks within it causing a need for constant adjustment in understanding how a page works. It's easiest if the site pages all have the same navigation tools, background color, logo placement, etc. Since these elements are easily managed (understanding flash or css or other stuff is not necessary) I don't see the reason for it UNLESS there are sub domains (or other hosted domains) with entirely different topics, then it is understandable.

Sandy Smith

1. too many clicks to get into the site

2. too many clicks to order merchandise (Amazon.com's one click ordering is the gold standard)

3. having to register and send personal information just to look through the web site, and set up a username and password right away whether or not I am going to purchase anything. Many times if a site requires registration before I can find out the information I want, I simply find another web site to do business with.

Ramona Moody French
Desert Resorts School of Somatherapy

While I love the graphics of many flash sites, they are all a pain in the butt because of the extra time they take. Hurrahs to those sites which allow you to opt into the flash rather than opt out of it.

My greatest annoyance is coming upon a web site built by a "web designer" or should I say "out of works graphics designer". At least that's what we call them in the circles in which I travel.

People that take Photoshop and ImageReady and create web sites are the most irritating people in the world. The only design concept they understand is graphics.

Take a professionally built web site in which an Internet Strategist is involved and you'll have perfection.

The second thing that irritates me the most is typically the HTML codes I come across won't validate even if they tried. That means one thing - they used a WYSIWYG editor to generate their pages. Give me someone that knows how to do it right and that knows how to envision a web page design without any of these so-called really good tools.

The third thing that irritates me the most is coming to a business web site and it's blatantly obvious the business owner didn't have the appreciation for their business one would expect of a true business owner. Those web sites make me wonder if I'm going to be dealing with a fly-by-night business or a scam. So, I typically do not order from web sites like that.

Sincerely,
Lee Roberts, President/CEO
Rose Rock Design, Inc.

I hate it when you have to click on an Order button to find the price of an Item!

Linda Lutes

Considering BUSINESS SITES displayed on a PC with a screen resolution of 800 px or more:
===================================================================

1) Pages that obviously come from a FrontPage template (including graphics) and you can tell just by looking
2) Contact Forms using Mailto <a href="mailto:me@here.com"> - give no feedback email has been sent, in some configurations there is no indication you have clicked "Submit"
3) Pages that have horizontal scroll bars - even worse sites that have horizontal scroll bars on a 1024 wide screen, I mean, what were they thinking?
4) Lots of graphics - especially annoying graphics such as the famous animated "email us" envelope that stuffs itself over and over again, and lots of animated graphics with movement all over
5) Page titles like "New Page 1" or "New Page 2"
6) You go to a web site, realize its not what you want, click BACK and you are "trapped" on that page
7) Pages with text that goes beyond the visible margin, and there are no scroll bars!
9) Popup windows are okay, but I do not like:
- popups that come up every single time you go to a certain page, I mean how hard is it to find a script to have that popup come up only once per day using a cookie?
- popups with content that is off-screen because the window has been coded too small
- popups that spawn other popups
- popups with annoying music or sounds
- popups that move
- popups that have no borders and move across the screen with no "close" button, thus forcing you to endure them for the 3 to 8 seconds they are on-screen
10) Pages whose textual content is barely visible due to lack of contrast between page and text color, take for example a page with BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" and text color #DDDDDD.
11) Pages with bright red or yellow backgrounds
12) Pages whose main textual content that is LARGE, such as font size="20"

In general, my pet peeve is when members of a Web Development team do not focus on their expertise. When Designers try to be Programmers, Programmers try to be Designers, Marketers trying to be Programmers AND Designers... It makes things a mess. On the other side of the coin, when Programmers OVER program or Designers OVER design, it leads to chaos and frustration on the part of the viewer.

- David Lawter

One thing I have noticed and no one is addressing (seemingly).

Background:
Many of the larger sites (MSN Yahoo etc..) are using less and less graphics, one reason for this is speed, (meaning less graphics= less weight) and their pages are text intensive, but another reason (and probably the biggest) is that most of the page is written using a page program of some nature (asp cgi php) which pulls the info from a DB somewhere and writes it on the page.

Now,
Why oh why are there so many, I mean, SO MANY sites written by nothing but graphic artists with no clue about page weight, time difference or even how to really make their pages useful, functional or navigable??? How many pages do you go to that have "Java" or "Macromedia" rollovers that either don't or you wait for the "alternate" graphic to download from the server? Yea, from the server!!?#$% They obviously only think of "A Beautiful User Interface" and drive away so many potential users/customers with this dribble!! The funniest thing of all, THE CUSTOMER PAID FOR THIS STUFF! And it looks great at presentation.

I am not a writer but please have someone write-up a definitive article about the do's and don'ts of graphic presentation and the weight-relativity for sales or services of a site!

Sincerely,
David W Stiebel
http://stiebeld.mine.nu

I hate when people use Technology for the sake of using Technology.
Like 'Flash' intro pages on the front page of websites.

I find it exceptionally rude and a waste of time. If it was a physical place of business and I wanted to enter their office, you would never see a representative of that company stop me at the door and say "WAIT ... before you enter you have to watch me do my sing and dance routine for you."

Flash is a great tool used in the right application, this does not include putting on a cabaret show before I can find the information I need on a website. (unless of course your business is Mardi Gras).

Anita
Sydney Australia

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