136 replies to this topic

[MikeChipshop]

What do you see on other sites that makes your blood boil and becomes an instant click away?

For me a good one is underlining things that are not anchors! It's confusing and just dame right wrong, stop it!

[zed]

For me a good one is underlining things that are not anchors! It's confusing and just dame right wrong, stop it!

this


rubbish comments like "this site works best in <insert browser>" or "optimised for".

[MikeChipshop]

this

Exactly!

Another good one Strike through text for fashionable reasons

NO!

[zed]

you mean YES ?

[user-removed]

There's a lot of things that annoy me. One of the biggest is average/crap web design propped up by incredible photography, not taken by the person who built the site.

People look at a template and think it's brilliant, but the reality is remove the images and it's nonsense.

[MikeChipshop]

zed... he's also something on the web that annoys me

[MikeChipshop]

There's a lot of things that annoy me. One of the biggest is average/crap web design propped up by incredible photography, not taken by the person who built the site.

People look at a template and think it's brilliant, but the reality is remove the images and it's nonsense.

In the same league (but maybe the complete opposite) i've had loads of clients (photographers etc) that turn down a well designed site (well in my humble opinion ) in favour of a rubbish design that is just the photos.

[Renaissance-Design]

Here's a few off the top of my head:

• Comic Sans & Papyrus
• Centred text
• Sidebars to the left of content
• Capitals forced into italic
• Standard caps used in place of small caps
• Anachronistic titling figures
• Body text at below 12px - we're not all at 800*600 any more
• Inadequate leading
• Inadequate margins
• sIFR or Cufon used where @font-face would work

Edited by Renaissance-Design, 01 March 2012 - 12:47 PM.
Thought of more.

[user-removed]

Pretentiousness. This industry is rife with smarmy, smug individuals.

The thing I hate most is the introductory headlines designers/developers write on their personal sites.

[MikeChipshop]

People that decide 'minimalist' means 'White'

[Renaissance-Design]

Pretentiousness. This industry is rife with smarmy, smug individuals.

The thing I hate most is the introductory headlines designers/developers write on their personal sites.

Oops.

[zed]

'W3C Validated' logos

"My name is..... and I <insert blah blah pretentious nonsense that may have looked cool once on one site>"

[zed]

Lobster font is the new Comic Sans?

[MikeChipshop]

Oops.

Haha but it's so hard not to! It's what clients expect.

My next tag line will be...

"You wanna website bruv? Good price yeah."

[user-removed]

Oops.

The difference is, I believe you.

I really shouldn't be in this thread, I'm gonna find it hard to stop.

I'm going to start raging about the Lobster font in a minute.

[Renaissance-Design]

Haha but it's so hard not to! It's what clients expect.

To be fair, I did my research beforehand and response was overwhelmingly positive except from other designers.

The difference is, I believe you.

I really shouldn't be in this thread, I'm gonna find it hard to stop.

I'm going to start raging about the Lobster font in a minute.

Feel free to weigh in on any of my list. Some of them really p*** me off, be nice to know I'm not alone.

Edited by Renaissance-Design, 01 March 2012 - 12:46 PM.

[MikeChipshop]

Feel free to weigh in on any of my list. Some of them really p*** me off, be nice to know I'm not alone.

Centred text.should.die

...but not as much as justified, i had a client a few months back that insisted on it.
It's the first time i've refused something haha

[Renaissance-Design]

Centred text.should.die

...but not as much as justified, i had a client a few months back that insisted on it.
It's the first time i've refused something haha

That's context-sensitive. I've used justified a couple of times when it seemed called for (eg, newspaper-inspired layout). So sometimes it's justified...

[user-removed]

Whilst we are at it, could somebody kindly explain the point of dribbble to me?

Especially the three bs. Wtf.

Edit: I have another. People think that subtle design is an alternative for "no contrast" or "nearly invisible".

Edited by brightonmike, 01 March 2012 - 12:52 PM.

[MikeChipshop]

Whilst we are at it, could somebody kindly explain the point of dribbble to me?

Especially the three bs. Wtf.

Edit: I have another. People think that subtle design is an alternative for "no contrast" or "nearly invisible".

I think that may be the epitome of your 'Pretentious' pet hate.

[Renaissance-Design]

Edit: I have another. People think that subtle design is an alternative for "no contrast" or "nearly invisible".

*ahem*

[MikeChipshop]

Edit: I have another. People think that subtle design is an alternative for "no contrast" or "nearly invisible".

Generally, because of my poor eyesight, my stuff is usually quite contrasted.

I'd also like to point out that i'm probably guilty of most of these at some point in my career

[user-removed]

I'd also like to point out that i'm probably guilty of most of these at some point in my career

Oh man, me too. The number of times I've gotten annoyed by bad typography or lack of contrast, then realised I've been guilty of the same is humbling.

[Spitfire]

Auto-starting videos and those "Give us feedback about the site" pop-ups that appear within 5 seconds of your first visit.

Oh and websites with a "Quick login" bar at the top of the page but the place-holder JS for it at the bottom so by the time you're halfway through typing your username the page fully loads and it gets replaced with "Username"...

Edited by Spitfire, 01 March 2012 - 01:03 PM.

[MikeChipshop]

Automatic 'Mobile sites' where design, features and content is sacrificed with no way to get to the desktop version. (IPB i'm talking to you!)
Hopefully the responsive movement will kill this one.

[Renaissance-Design]

Auto-starting videos and those "Give us feedback about the site" pop-ups that appear within 5 seconds of your first visit.

If enough people filled in their feedback as "I f****** hate those intrusive survey popups"...

[MikeChipshop]

sIFR or Cufon used where @font-face would work

...even when both of those add stupid weight to page.

Also... decorative fonts used for main body text... WTF is the point in having content if i can't read it?

[notbanksy]

My pet hate is people proclaiming to be web designers who have no grasp of typography. Incredibly long lines of text in a tiny font with default line spacing. And centred text. MAKES ME MAD I TELLS YA!

And those worse-than-useless headlines that web designers use because they lack the imagination to do anything with words that they didn't copy from a .net magazine tutorial. Hi, my name's Groovy Designz and I'm passionate about masturbation.... etc

Here's another one. Using fancy flash/ js because they can, even when it doesn't suit the project, or decreases usability.



Ooh I feel much better now! Namaste mofos!

[4colourprogress]

People that put the toilet paper on the holder so that the loose sheet is at the back... and the proclaimers

Edited by 4colourprogress, 01 March 2012 - 01:19 PM.

[porkchops]

Some of these have already been mentioned:

Comic Sans, Papyrus, Lobster and the massive overuse of Museo.
Small body copy (and the insistence that 'corporate' sites need 11px body copy and 13px headlines)
Display faces used for body copy
Abused leading / kerning / tracking
Ignored leading / kerning / tracking
Splash screens or intro pages
Auto-playing music or video with sound
Lack of white space in a design
Inconsistent margins
Things that look clickable when they aren't (and the opposite)
Sites that rely entirely on fancy jQuery animations and otherwise lack substance
Justified text. Centered text I can get on board with in certain situations. But left-aligned is where it's at.
Anything that changes the way usability conventions behave
Tag clouds

Man... I must come across far angrier than I actually am... Good to know there are people out there who share a fair number of these with me.

[GalaxyTramp]

People that put the toilet paper on the holder so that the loose sheet is at the back... and the proclaimers

Oh heck I thought it was just me,with the toilet paper thing.

Edited by GalaxyTramp, 01 March 2012 - 01:22 PM.

[Renaissance-Design]

I'm a Museo abuser. Well, I use it. But only for my headings.

(And I could give it up anytime I want)

[user-removed]

People that read CSS3 tutorials, then whinge that the demo doesn't work in IE7.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for browser compatibility sympathy, I can tell you I don't have any. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you stop whinging that CSS3 demos do not work in old browsers now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

Edited by brightonmike, 01 March 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[MikeChipshop]

(And I could give it up anytime I want)

Cold turkey?

[zed]

I expect to see some SEO outfit spamming a therapy site real soon...

[Renaissance-Design]

I expect to see some SEO outfit spamming a therapy site real soon...

QFTW.

[MikeChipshop]

I expect to see some SEO outfit spamming a therapy site real soon...

Then i shall track them down and lead them on for as long as possible to waste their time.

[MMMedia]

People who can't correctly pad their content i.e. text tantalising close to a margin or other element makes me want to tweak it for them - cue me loading Firebug just to see how much better it could look!

[MikeChipshop]

OK i know it's not directly web design based and more client hate but... i hate clients that want me to build in the option of being able to change their body font themselves.
I can't ever imagine a good use for this.

[MikeChipshop]

People who can't correctly pad their content i.e. text tantalising close to a margin or other element makes me want to tweak it for them - cue me loading Firebug just to see how much better it could look!

Totally.
The other way round too.