Overloaded, Cluttered, Obnoxious, or Just Plain Ugly Websites
Gordon Wayne Watts Research Page
valleyisleaquatics, created by Maui Tech Girl
These sites are confusing to navigate or are way over-loaded with links, photos, and information. Some force the viewer to listen to music and others have animation that is simply over the top and unnecessary.
What do you think of J.K. Rowling’s new website?
Love this or hate this- http://www.mikeroweworks.com/
You can be creative but just make sure you have organized your content well! Think about how someone will navigate your website to find what he/she needs. Consider how it looks visually and how content is laid out on the page, and if the colors used clash or even hurt to look at (like green lettering on a red background).
There’s always the offending MEGA-PAGE! Does it ever end?
You really can find anything online these days.
Now it’s your turn- we talked earlier in the month about websites we liked such as Google and YouTube either for how they look or for their content. Let’s do the opposite and find sites that you don’t like. Maybe it’s confusing to find what you’re looking for or it’s just plain ugly. Please find three different sites you don’t like and give the reasons why. What would make these sites better?
What About Domain Names?
Think long and hard about what you want your domain name to be before you buy it.
Some bad examples:
http://www.childrenswear.co.uk/
Best Practices for Web Design
Here is a good list of things to keep in mind when designing your website
Also- 9 Essential Principals for Good Web Design
Things to consider: visual layout, menu system, use of headlines and other content dividers, image placement, etc.
Also see- Top Ten Web Design Mistakes and Top 9 Usability Mistakes
Thank you for the critique of GordonWayneWatts.com, linked above, and tracked back (see planet-like icon @ top-left). (This HostGator site is mirrored on GoDaddy at GordonWatts.com, for redundancy.)
Yes, I agree the music is ‘unorthadox,’ but there are MULTIPLE ways to shut it off, and the new surfer of the Internet highway better learn how to drive! (Plus, use of music helps the reader recall my news blog more easily, I infer.)
Also, yes, it is quite ‘crowded,’ but the navigation bar up top makes navigation tons easier, and it MUST be crowded in order to get the most “bang for my buck”: So long as it’s not illegible (and it is not, even up to, say 1600×1200 resolution), it ‘passes’ my test -and that of many other happy readers & viewers.
Lastly, I do admit that normally a “Jack of all Trades” multi-use website is confusing or no good, but I’m the guy who:
#1 — Almost won the Terri Schiavo case, to save the girl in question, while also OPPOSING Jeb Bush’s feeding tube method (so, I did not run afoul my liberal friends here)
#2 — Am one of FEW world-wide “official” mirrors to the Star Trek: New Voyages project, an official resurrection of the ORIGINAL series, as evidenced by the fact that Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., son of the creator, Gene Roddenberry, is/was the consulting producer, and many cast, and special effects team remain loyal for the 40-odd years since its inception circa 1966-67.
#3 — My college education gives me proper credientials to address and discuss the SUPER HIGH cancer rate in this country (Health Link).
#4 — Numbers 1-3, above, plus those not listed, add up, implying that it’s OK for my namesake news blog to cover more than “just one” area. (Many things are important, are they not?)
/:-D)
Gordon Wayne Watts,
Editor-in-Chief, The Register
(e.g., GordonWatts.com / GordonWayneWatts.com