As a follow up to my previous blog post “5 Website Features That Work,” I thought I would take a look at the dark side of web design and list a few website features that do not work. Believe me: this list could go on and on. For the sake of brevity; however, here are five website features that I’m hoping to see less of on the web.
Resizing the browser window
We’ve all been to sites like these, where you click the link and before you know it, POW! Your entire screen is taken up by what is quite clearly the most important website of all time. Often the controls on your browser window are summarily eliminated, leaving you stranded in what someone obviously intended to be an “immersive experience”. Here’s what’s wrong: this is 2009 and we’re more than capable of making up our own minds about how we experience websites. If we want the screen to be that big, we’ll resize it ourselves. And if the site only works when the window is that big, then that’s a flaw in the design. There really is no excuse for this.
Overdone flash/splash screens
Splash screens gave the web users of yesteryear something to marvel at - a big flashy introduction to Company X and its Awesome Value Proposition. So basically, a commercial; and it’s easy to see why. Back when the idea of having a website was a bit of a heady concept, the only frame of reference that designers and developers had to work with was television. The splash page gave designers the opportunity to make an unfamiliar place a little more familiar. It was also a chance to show off and introduce the brand in a controlled (read: linear, non-interactive) environment. The problem is that we’ve moved on from there. Having a website isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a business necessity. Users have become more sophisticated and less impressed by a page spinning and sparkling and flying around than they once were—so save the flash for where you really need it and concentrate on getting users to where they need to go.
Music (unless the site is about your band)
As mentioned above, bandwidth can mean the difference between a user becoming a client or clicking the back button to find someone a bit more competent. And one of the best ways to increase the load time is to make sure that your site plays music. Consider your audience: people coming to your site may be at work themselves and aren’t necessarily interested in broadcasting their current activities to the office. They may not share your musical tastes. They may already be listening to their own music. Finding the volume controls on your site could be the last straw.
Lack of clear calls to action
Life is hard enough already. Every site needs to have a coherent navigation structure; but more than that, each site, and each page, needs to have a purpose. If you want people to know where you are, or what you do, make those entry points into your site larger, more attractive, more inviting. The only way to judge the success of a website is to know what goals you’re trying to achieve. So once you’ve identified what you want people to do, make it easy for them. A prominent and appropriate call to action can cut through the frustration that a lot of users experience on their first visit to a new site.
Bad Typography & Bad Copy
These are two different points, but I’m lumping them together. When I say bad typography, I mean type that is too small to read comfortably, paragraphs that are full or center-justified, and various other crimes and misdemeanors of the graphic design world.
When I say bad copy, I think you know what I mean: insipid corporate-speak, lack of bulleted text and general verbosity. It’s no secret that people read differently on the web than they do in printed publications, but there’s really no excuse for cutting and pasting the annual report onto the website, even if its littered with keywords.
If you’ve gone to the trouble of creating a website, then it’s worth making sure that people can use it. Avoiding some of these mistakes on your website can enhance the user’s experience by cutting down the overall level of frustration. Your clients, and potential clients, will thank you.