Examples of Bad Websites

Here's a question for you:  Would a good psychic know their website was going to appear on boogersite?  We think so, which makes it puzzling why this boogersite has not already been redone.

Aside from the obvious issue with the logo, there is a crazy mix of text with text-as-image here.  Why do people do that?  If you've got some designy oddball font, you need to publish it as an image so it can be displayed in all browsers, that's why.  It doesn't seem to have been necessary here.  Also note that the menu options change depending upon which page you are on.  As this is the Psychic Temple Online, I'd have expected some online activity, maybe an interactive Tarot reading or something.  Or - should the website have greeted us by name?!

This place has won 3 Psychic Awards...but they probably already knew that.

Okay class, what year was FP6 from...1998 maybe?  Whether you know the answer or not, you will definitely realize it's time to update a website that was created using this very old tool when you visit the recently submitted craigstewartelectrical.com. 

Firefox refuses to display many of the old-school 'design' elements, such as the WordArt 'Hot Specials', only one of many design fouls to be seen on this site.  Animated gifs, animated menu flyouts that you have to see to believe using IE, and a wavy-bouncy scrolling banner.

The Specials page invites us to 'see our web page' for further details.  I thought we already ARE on the 'web page'?  However, there is an interesting background image of a woman joyfully holding what looks to be a garage door opener.  She may or may not be standing in front of a waterfall.  What this has to do with an electrical company is not clear.  Water + electricity = all bad, right? 

Almost every 'click here for more information' leads to a broken link.  The two links we found that DO work don't open a new window, as they should.  Instead, you're taken to another company's website, which is obviously counter-productive to having visitors stay on your site and hire YOU.

Go ahead, blink a few times.  Your first impression that this is an interactive map of a subway system is incorrect.  Well, no wonder!  "you need to download Flash 8 to view this site properly".  Come on, everyone, hop into the time machine and go back to 2005 with us!  (we should buy some Google stock while we're there...)

IF you can see the horizontal nav choices, 'Who We Are' seems to be a historical montage of unreadable business cards.  'Resources' offers a free download that won't, and 'Contact Us' is pretty unfriendly. 
A basic best practice of having your logo always link to your home page was also ignored here.  Seriously, for a company that offers "Web Sites" as one of their 'solutions', you'd think they'd have a better one of their own.

What are we supposed to do on this site?  If we own a seafood restaurant, and were searching for a new supplier, it would be unlikely that we'd run across this company online.  Why?  There isn't a single keyword associated with this website.

Can we order fish for our restaurant?  Not on the website. What makes this company a better choice than our current supplier?  It doesn't say.

If your site is meant to promote a product or a service - you should show off what you sell!  Include pictures, a description, and if appropriate, PRICING.  Then, provide an easy way to order or request information.
If you include photos on your site, make sure the resolution is high, and that there is a way to step through the photos.  Filling the screen (or part of it) with a photo leaving no way out other than the browser's back button is rude.  The only button we're going to click is the "X" to close the page.

This is what happens when bad 'build your own website' tools happen to good people.

A professional web design company would've never sold you a landing page like this one, trust us.  No one should ever have to click 'enter' to get to your website.  Once we do, however, we land on a 13 page long 'Current Works' page.  No address, no way to contact these craftsmen - which should be on every page.  If you're going to use a template, we'd think that template should have a spot for company name/address/phone/email on every page. 

Also suspect is the meta information.  If the template came with defaults, there should be a reminder to change them to your own.  Does anyone think this site is about Financial Planning?  Because that's what the keywords are all about.  Beautiful handiwork deserves a better showcase than this.