Examples of Bad Websites

MySpace, Facebook and Twitter prove that the masses want their piece of the web. These sites also show that most of these people are horrible designers. At the same time, hobbyists using these tools can create a page that is useable and gets their message to the masses. With tools like these available, the average person should use them, instead of posing as web designers.

The Hell's Belles Car Club is an example of a site that means well and is aimed at a specific audience. This type of site is perfect for for a site like MySpace. They would still have the same control without alienating their audience. For example, they introduce the standard red color scheme, only to abandon it on all of the secondary pages. Likewise, they feature an icon-driven menu and then maroon users on all of the other pages. The only way to navigate through this site other than using the browser buttons is to use the "back the hell up" link that drops users back to the index.

Let's be honest, the Belles should stick to their passion of classic cars and let the pros do the web work.

Oftentimes it's the small things that can ruin a web site, like not having clear branding or annoying Flash banners. To make matters worse, the company logo is not present on any other page except for the home page. The name of your company and what you do should be the first things that someone sees when visiting your site.

Most of the pages have little to no visual interest. The home page has a feature of a trainer and a photo of Jack Black, but apparently they are not fans since they buried it at the bottom of the page. The photos they have on the other pages are limited to blurry or out of focus postage stamps.This website should be a tool to get people to the health clubs for a visit but the designer hasn't given visitors any reason to go. Digital photos are a cheap and easy way to show people what your business is about.

With two branches and a fitness trainer to the stars, you would think that The Fitness Club could afford a professional website that shows they are serious about their business.

If you can remember Jellies, neon plastic, Cavaricci jeans, Wayfarer Sunglasses, Bolo ties and Skids - you are familiar with things that may have seemed like a good idea at the time but would be laughable today. Likewise, website design often falls victim to the peace-sign-wearing, hippie designer that forgets what decade they are in. This website dates back to 1990 and it looks like it. Just because you have a website that is 20 years old, it doesn't mean that it should be a time capsule.

Consistency on a website is important, it keeps your visitors from getting lost as they travel from one page to another. On this particular website that is as outdated as pea-green shag carpet, they just need an escape hatch that sends the user anywhere on the web other than Cinema Scene. The secondary pages switch design on a whim and in a lot of cases have no design or navigation at all.

There are a lot of good online resources for movie reviews. Our advice is to save your time on this one, it simply has no plot.

This is most putrid thing that we have seen in about a week. Seriously, this belongs in the top ten for the worst websites of the year. If you happen to be visually impaired and you're hearing this text, feel free to laugh at all of us that have to look at this dung heap. There is no structure, common theme, navigation, header or even a real logo. The main logo vaguely resembles a half-assed attempt to create a vintage Vegas road sign that any preschooler could surpass. The only attempt at design is the white bars on the page which could induce a welcomed seizure.

With a little bit of searching we did manage to find an actual product here, but no one with an ounce of common sense would trust this site with their credit card number. The visual appeal and overall professionalism of a website can go a long way to establish or destroy trust. If a web designer does not have the skills to create a trustworthy website, then they should hire a company that knows how to create successful websites. It is better to admit your epic failure as a web designer than it is to flush money down the toilet on a website that no one trusts.

The design and layout of this website is BORING. There is no visual interest or anything that would indicate that the web designer even has a pulse. There are several dead links, broken graphics and an index page that is too long. We were originally thinking that this site wasn't too bad but as we began listing out the issues, it became clear that euthanasia is a great idea.

There is little contrast between the backgrounds and the text so it becomes difficult to tell what is text versus a link. The monochromatic design is still popular but having some color variety goes a long way toward making things easy to find and gives your visitors at least a little something to look at.

Then we have the navigation which should be one of the highest priorities for a web developer. It should be easy to use and have what the user is looking for. The navigation certainly has what you're looking for, assuming you're a lab rat, the problem is that you will need a map to find it. On some pages there are more navigation links than content. Seriously boys, stick to the Little Tykes chemistry sets and leave the websites to the big boys.