Actually there are about three kinds of 'bad' sites:
-The design clearly sucks, or
-the navigation is unlogical or absent or
-the site hasn't been updated for four/five years.
I think that the second example is the most common on big sites like the Microsoft site, especially since I got there lost for more than two times...
Have you ever come across a site that really screams the impression of BAD? It doesnt matter if its terrible design, botched layout or misguided use of a color wheel, I'm curious to know what site(s) stand out in your mind as being the WORST.
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Sparkie - SitePoint Moderator
www.pawsitronic.com - The Site to Suit your Style!
MSN IM: sparkiecat@hotmail.com
I haven't check Sonys website for a while, but if it hasn't changed recently it has to go down as one of the worst user friendly sites I have ever seen.... Its slow on normal computers and the site is just one big maze which takes you ages to find anything you are looking for if at all !!!
If you mean "BAD" as in not being user friendly then the microsoft website has to be the worst. It's a huge database of information but good luck trying to find what you're looking for.
You know the information is there, but you never find it.
I think some of the worst web sites are actually sites for "professional web designers." Like the two mentioned above. How do these people actually think they'll make money? But what really annoys me is they do! I don't have any links though. I'm not into bookmarking bad websites
If you want to find anything on the Microsoft site it is actually easy to do if you know proper drill down techniques and use one word searches. Their search within search results are wonderful and should be implemented on more websites.
I have noticed that Hotbot has implemented search within search in a round about way but Microsoft's is better.
Worst Website: Yahoo.com, don't like it, don't use it or any of their services, probably won't until the overall website improves.
I think Yahoo is one of the best websites out there. It proves that design isn't everything (which of course, leads into the question of design vs content. I think content wins almost every time (unless the design gets in the way of the information) no matter what some people wish to believe.)
Their services are fast, easy to use, well made, easy to navigate, accurate and complete (usually), and often quite high-tech. The design is perfec because it works on just about every browser yet still looks decent. It's no wonder they are #1 (or 2 depending on how you look at it.) Crap. I sound like an advertisment.
See I see Yahoo as totally lacking design and very difficult to use especially when trying to drill down to find a specific category. One wrong click in the process and you can end up in petunias when you were trying to find potatos.
One the other hand others have listed Microsoft as a bad site in this forum and I think their main site (microsoft.com) is one of the easiest to navigate and enables me to find anything I want within a few minutes whether its a common visual basic run-time error, the download for the latest version of MDAC, or look into a program that isn't well known like Microsoft TV.
I have to agree with Wayne, the Microsoft site is one of the best sites on the net, it is probably one of the largest on the net, yet using the searches you can find anything in a couple of minutes (I spend longer than that looking for stuff on my hard disk sometimes).
Search within a search is definately the new 'it' thing for the web, it should be on every large site. Microsoft also demonstrates and pioneers some of the great things in web desing. Another thing, how often do you see an error on the Microsoft site? Not very often.
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Karl Austin KDA Web Services
"Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film."
Oh My God....
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I dare you to go to these to AWFUL pages and READ what they wrote. Its amazing. http://www.geocities.com/~northshoreweb/smallbind.html http://www.geocities.com/~northshoreweb/basic.html
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I am certainly a novice web designer, but I can do better than that (I hope). Maybe I'll have to book mark those into a "Never do this" folder.
--Bill
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Lake Superior Smokin' Brews
Make It Different: Brew Your Own! www.smokinbrews.com
This a case of First-time-behind-a-HTML-editor-site...
One remark: Every free host is stuffed with this kind of sites, mostly made by kids who think that they can make a good site... (And guess what? They mostly use FP Express... )
Second remark: How I know that they use FP? Just take a look at the source...
i beg to differ - before i knew that i had to do a drill down on microsoft's site (which i eventually figured out) i was lost. What about a user that doesnt know that you should do a search within a search? Or they are unfamiliar with a concept of 'drill down'?
Gawd that web spinners site is bad. Those cobwebs look like they were drawn in Paintbrush.
One of the worst ones I ever saw (and I wish now I had the address to share it with everyone) was for a shoe store. Someone had actually scanned their foot inside a shoe and posted that picture as the main image on their site! And this site was advertised on TV!
I dont mind Yahoo's site, I dont use it anymore though, I like ask.com much better. Yahoo needs a facelift. That same design has been around since the early 90s.
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Sparkie - SitePoint Moderator
www.pawsitronic.com - The Site to Suit your Style!
MSN IM: sparkiecat@hotmail.com
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What is Microsoft TV? Is that like WebTV?
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Microsoft's TV initiative is much different than WebTV (Which Microsoft also owns).
The TV initiative is targetted toward the provider to allow interactive televisions services over cable and satellite.
Through embedded NT and custom applications, users will be able to do everything they can do in WebTV, plus play games, use MS and 3rd party applications, receive digital television signals and much more. It does require server and client boxes and software though. I do believe that Windows 98SE can utilize Microsoft TV and WebTV signals if you have a TV tuner card.
Also, I just realised that the site was on geocities. I really hope this person doesn't make any money.
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If I ever wanted to practice predatory sales, it would be this guys customers. I certainly hope their sites look better than his.
This has got to be the funniest thing I've ever seen:
"Small business websites are full of excitement and graphics. There are moving pictures called animated GIFs all over the place. There is moving text that scrolls across the bottom of the screen and pictures that change when you put your mouse over them. There is every bell and whistle that you can imagine. These sites take a lot of time to make. Every bell or whistle you want takes time. Time means money. Bells and whistles mean enticement. Why there are even songs called MIDIs that play music in the background."
Ooooh will wonders never cease?!
[This message has been edited by Sparkie (edited July 21, 2000).]
Actually the creator of NS Web Design (the GeoCities website) is pretty good at computers. Obviously not at design, too.
I don't think he has made any Web sites professionally. We live in the same town and a lot of small stores have Web sites (like the Bake Shoppe, Homer's and even our town) but all of them are at least half-good.
His main computer (yes, I've been to his house...my brother used to carpool with him to school) is a Mac Quadra Centris 660 with 8 MB of RAM, a single ~55MHz processor, and a 15" monitor which can span resolutions up to 640x480. Now, I don't have anything wrong with people having subpar computers...but a 'professional' web designer having a computer that is 50MHz?
And the NS Web Design site isn't old or anything. He's in my brother's summer school class and he tells my brother ever day about how he will OWN the 'world wide info superhighway monorail' some day with his 'leet' web design 'skillzy'. /me yawns
Is it just me or has that guy broken EVERY single rule about webdesign. Go look at any of the 10 deadly sins and they'll all be on his idea of a good site! This guy could sell that little excerpt and make some money, as he can't seem to do it any other way
I stumbled yesterday over a VERY ugly site: http://www.freedom2surf.net
come on, take a look and shiver... You can't believe they're a serious company when you see this site, or can you?
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