Robin Williams
Below are features that can make a web design look dorky. These are not just my personal opinions, but are ideas I have collected from speaking to groups around the country. Examples of many of these features and more detailed explanations of the problems and solutions are in my book, The Non-Designer's Web Book, written with John Tollett.
- Backgrounds
- Default gray color
- Color combinations of text and background that make the text hard to read
- Busy, distracting backgrounds that make the text hard to read
- Color combinations of text and background that make the text hard to read
- Text
- Text that is too small to read
- Text crowding against the left edge
- Text that stretches all the way across the page
- Centered type over flush left body copy
- Paragraphs of type in all caps
- Paragraphs of type in bold
- Paragraphs of type in italic
- Paragraphs of type in all caps, bold, and italic all at once
- Underlined text that is not a link
- Text crowding against the left edge
- Links
- Default blue links
- Blue link borders around graphics
- Links that are not clear about where they will take you
- Links in body copy that distract readers and lead them off to remote, useless pages
- Text links that are not underlined so you don't know they are links
- Dead links (links that don't work anymore)
- Blue link borders around graphics
- Graphics
- Large graphic files that take forever to load
- Meaningless or useless graphics
- Thumbnail images that are nearly as large as the full-sized images they link to
- Graphics with no alt labels
- Missing graphics, especially missing graphics with no alt labels
- Graphics that don't fit on the screen (assuming a screen of 640x460 pixels)
- Meaningless or useless graphics
- Tables
- Borders turned on in tables
- Tables used as design elements, especially with extra large (dorky) borders
- Tables used as design elements, especially with extra large (dorky) borders
- Blinking and animations
- Anything that blinks, especially text
- Multiple things that blink
- Rainbow rules (lines)
- Rainbow rules that blink or animate
- "Under construction" signs, especially of little men working
- Animated "under construction" signs
- Animated pictures for e-mail
- Animations that never stop
- Multiple animations that never stop
- Multiple things that blink
- Junk
- Counters on pages--who cares
- Junky advertising
- Having to scroll sideways (640 x 460 pixels)
- Too many little pictures of meaningless awards on the first page
- Frame scroll bars in the middle of a page
- Multiple frame scroll bars in the middle of a page
- Junky advertising
- Navigation
- Unclear navigation; over complex navigation
- Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames
- Orphan pages (no links back to where they came from, no identification)
- Useless page titles that don't explain what the page is about
- Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames
- General Design
- Entry page or home page that does not fit within standard browser window
(640 x 460 pixels)
- Frames that make you scroll sideways
- No focal point on the page
- Too many focal points on the page
- Navigation buttons as the only visual interest, especially when they're large (and dorky)
- Cluttered, not enough alignment of elements
- Lack of contrast (in color, text, to create hierarchy of information, etc.)
- Pages that look okay in one browser but not in another
- Frames that make you scroll sideways
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