Refashioned Retro Refuge: Your Updated Guide to Ranking Less-than-Exceptional Sites
Steer Clear of Substandard Sites: An In-Depth Look at Recognizing and Evading Inadequately Designed and User-Uninviting Websites
Ever stumbled upon a digital time capsule, reminiscent of the beauty that was Windows 95’s blocky interface? You're not alone, friend. After trudging through the Web wilderness and clicking endlessly like a cyber-archaeologist, I've distilled tip-top guidance for identifying these digital relics that might disrupt your smooth online journey.
Now, get ready to daydream about that unicorn of a Web experience: seamless navigation here we come! So fasten your seatbelts and join me in this heart-to-heart about the sub-par sites out there. Buckle up!
The Lowdown on Junk Sites
Ah, the World Wide Web—a mystical realm where aesthetics and functionality collide. In this mishmash of online havens, some sites remain unfathomably stuck in the past, littered with design disasters worthy of several UI/UX re-design service consultations.
From mismatched color schemes that blind you like the rising sun, to slow-loading pages that make you yearn for the dial-up days, strap yourself in and prepare for a visual odyssey. Below, we uncovered the design disasters that leave you questioning if these sites are from some other universe.
Inconsistent Layout
Imagine clicking on a website, only to find yourself lost in a digital jungle of different colors, fonts, and styles. Not a welcoming sight, is it? Such inconsistency is a massive no-no—it creates chaos for the user and can encourage them to click away as quickly as the speed of light.
The takeaway here is simple: websites should keep things cohesive with consistent layouts, colors, and fonts. But alas, some sites ignore this advice, randomly changing hues and styles with the whims of a toddler, leaving users bewildered.
The Slow Poke Syndrome
Next on our list of design woes: snail-paced websites. Reflect for a moment on confronting that new online toy, only to find yourself gazing at an endless succession of spinning icons and buffering messages. Cue the infamous dial-up modem sound. Be discerning, online pants-apologies, more than 50% of users will opt-out if a page doesn't load within three seconds. Keeping things swift is fundamental for any web owner who wants to retain visitors and thrive.
Hand-me-down Responsiveness
Picture yourself navigating a website on mobile devices? No problem, right? Wrong! Where it matters most (read: the iPhone grasps in the hands of half the Web browsers), some sites neglect to adapt, leading to squished or oversized visuals, horizontal scrolling, and otherwise cumbersome navigation. This mobile myopia can prove disastrous, with over 50% of users bailing if they hit a mobile compatibility disaster zone.
Stay far away from unresponsive design; think of it as fashion faux pas that'll leave the discerning user unimpressed and fleeing. In this mobile-first world, responsiveness is an absolute must. We live in an era where people's smartphones are more often attached to them than a conjoined limb.
Font Fun-Fails
Unreadable fonts and lackluster typography plague the Web realm like a plague, causing eye strain and heartache in unsuspecting users. The order of the day, it seems, is for font choices that could pass for art installations in a minimalist competition or the remnants of an extinct alphabet.
Enter your content, imaginatively composed in uncomfortably tiny font sizes, washed out colors, and incongruent combinations that make you long for the comforting legibility of Times New Roman.
Picture this: you land on a page, eager to consume delightful content, only to be confronted by grotesque font choices that make you squint and blink in frustration. Thankfully, we can prescribe a remedy for this malady, urging website owners to use accessible fonts and strong visual hierarchies. Let's put an end to illegible fonts and introduce clarity and cohesion to our online browsing experiences.
Flubbed Call-to-Action
Imagine clicking through a site, only to find yourself asking, "What do I do now?" This scenario arises when the website lacks a clear call-to-action, leaving you hanging like a bat perched on a vine, unsure what your next move should be.
Common examples of this blunder are elusive "buy now" buttons, awkward button styles, or call-to-action designs that are too discrete. Avoid this pitfall and provide users with a well-defined, positioned guide on what to click next. The more chill it is to click, the better the chances of sealing the deal (and keeping them on your site).
A Closer Look at Problematic Design: ZARA, Wayfair, eBay, and More
Several brands have fallen prey to design inconsistencies and other navigational challenges. Allow me to delve into the missteps of these pseudo-saviors of e-commerce: Zara, Wayfair, eBay, Lipton, Madewell, Paper Source, The Room: Official Movie Site, IMDb, and Fandango. Inspect the shared struggles of these sites and observe how they managed to alienate users with their questionable design philosophies.
Zara: Averbuch's Maze
Ah, Zara, our style-icon valiant—or perhaps, not so much. Zara's problem lies in its disastrous navigation, making users feel like they're lost in a labyrinth when trying to find what they came for. With pages upon pages that blatantly refuse to lead us to our desired fashion haberdashery, browsing Zara leaves many of us feeling like we've embarked on an endless treasure hunt.
Wayfair: The Hermit Crab's Burrow
Take a dip in Wayfair's notorious waters of slow-loading websites, and you'll find yourself as captivated as a hermit crab perched in a sea cave. Ever experienced the sensation of school getting out for the summer, only to realize that the internet is as lethargic as a sloth on its happiest day? Yep, that's an accurate description of Wayfair's page speeds. It's no surprise that more than 50% of users are abandoning ship as a result of pages that refuse to surface from their digital slumber.
eBay: A Mystery to Mobile and Accessibility
One time, as I peddled around the eBay cloisters, I stumbled upon its enigmatic mobile layout. An experience akin to wearing a beanie baby backpack in 2022. A design that feels as outdated as dial-up modems, eBay's mobile page shatters the modern user's expectations, making navigation a guessing game and usability an unattainable dream.
Lipton: Typos-R-Us
Exhibit A: Lipton's font fiasco. A website so visually displeasing that it makes hieroglyphics appear like old-school handwriting. Navigating through this herbal apocalypse is as enjoyable as studying a soup can from a century ago; it's hard to partake in comfortable browsing when you're wrestling with unintelligible visual layouts.
Madewell: The Silent Salesman
Got your visual learners here. Chances are, they're the 65% of online users who prefer to visually consume their content. Madewell's website seems to have forgotten this massively crucial detail, offering visuals that fail to communicate clear calls-to-action. Users find themselves wandering the digital aisles, unable to find where the 'buy now' buttons lie hidden among the merchandise.
Paper Source: Stuck in a Never-Ending Pinterest Board
Walk into the proverbial Paper Source, and you'll be greeted by an anxious storm of colors, fonts, and patterns. A hurricane of visual disarray far removed from the soothing calm of a well-coordinated website. As paper lovers, we crave a site that showcases the range of our beloved stationery; but inundated with dizzying patterns and assaulted by mismatched font choices, we're left feeling nauseous and yearning for a return to reason (and clear visual hierarchy).
The Room - Official Movie Site: Ignoring SEO Best Practices
One dark night upon the streaming highway, I encountered The Room's official website. A vexing online desert, it appears to have forgotten the importance of meta tags, clear navigation, and search engine optimization entirely. A mystery-shrouded showtime schedule and hopelessly inadequate search functions make this site a perplexing and elusive destination: one as difficult to locate as Tommy Wiseau's acting talents (if such a thing exists).
IMDb: Destroyer of Pop-Ups
Dear IMDb, we once thought you were our forever friend in the world of movie databases. But why, oh why, have you unleashed an epidemic of pop-ups and ads upon us? Users seeking answers to cinematic quandaries are left feeling harassed and overwhelmed as these flashing, invasive ads latch onto them with clinging tenacity. Advertise wisely, IMDb, and bring back the user-friendly peace and harmony of yesteryear.
Fandango: King of the Gargantuan Sign-up Forms
In a movie-themed kingdom not too far away, lived the fearsome Fandango—guardian of sign-up forms so vast and complex that they could weave a Gordian knot into a lawn chair. Just as the fearless hero waves his legendary scimitar, users approached Fandango with great trepidation, knowing they'd likely set off an intricate series of gates and forms, chock full of challenges and quagmires. But you can't slay this dragon by force alone; Fandango's sign-up ordeals can only be counteracted with a smoother, more manageable experience worthy of a good time.
Design Blunders to Steer Cleared of
Now, let's cleanse our palettes by discarding the design disasters of yesteryear. Refresh your understanding of the common slip-ups webmasters should avoid, and learn the wisdom of pristine design practices.
Awful User Experience
You cast your gaze upon a site, eager to explore its wonders—only to find yourself faced with the classic refrain of "This is Awe-ful!". Tiny text that even an eagle would struggle to read, buttons that ignore your tapping fingers, slow-loading pages, and poor navigation options variously serve to send users packing faster than a impulsive casino gambler on a hot streak.
Accessibility Blind Spots
Gracehouse: we hold out our hands in apology to this legion of users foiled by design blind spots. Visual impairments, hearing disabilities, motor-skill difficulties, and other challenges to accessibility creation are not rare; in fact, these users constitute a significant online constituency. Designing without accessibility in mind is like hosting a lavish fancy-dress party filled with locked doors and fire exits—equal parts embarrassing and potentially dangerous.
Ineffective Use of Images and Graphics
Mister Potatoe, Red Cross, Time Capsule: some images seem so outdated, so threadbare, that they harken back to days gone by. Poor image optimization, oversized graphics, and misleading stock photos (the handshake photo greeting you on an "About Us" page) assault the user with a kaleidoscope of colors that will drain the life from even the most colorful of cuisines.
The Web’s Wake-up Call: Business Consequences of Terrible Design
Raggedy Robin and The Ugly Stepsister keep terrible design on their side in fairytales. Not so the business world. Here, poorly laid-out websites are like pushy salespeople—chasing away customers faster than Egyptian fire ants stinging a rolled-up sock-leaving your femur protruding like a tempting stick. Businesses suffer damage to their wallets and reputations when these sites neglect user needs and search engines.
The Web’s Savior: Saving Problematic Sites
The redemption of a wayward web is nigh! Armed with our newfound knowledge, let's illuminate the path to conversion rate bliss.
- Speed it up!: Slow-loading sites send users dashing like the wind, leaving your servers to reflect on their own mortality. Instead, let Google's PageSpeed Insights be your wise Yoda, dishing out tips on optimization and compression.
- Tie the aesthetic knot: Keep colors, fonts, and layouts congruent and harmonious, pleasing the discerning user and giving them confidence in your brand.
- Adapt! Adapt! Adapt!: In a mobile-first world, your website must cater to the smartphone-clutching masses night and day.
- Make smart eyes songs: Readable fonts, improved typography, and color contrast help to rescue users from eyestrain—a good deed indeed in this fleeting digital landscape.
- Magic paths for the eyes: Clear navigation and intuitive layouts—breadcrumbs and menus that guide their pixels even as far as the lands of Unicorn City.
- Slay those ad-dragons: Tame your ad-hungry web-creature by striking the right balance between revenue and user-friendliness.
- Break down the entry barriers: Simplify registration forms, patrons of your web-citadel, by trimming the gigantic gate guards and watching your visitor count skyrocket.
- Accessibility for all: Level the design playing field and welcome a legion of previously alienated users—all while reaping the rewards of brand loyalty and compliments from SEO gods.
- Visual storytellers: Guide your users through your product or service categories with visuals, graphics, and designs that captivate them like a world-class virtual tour.
- Inconsistent layouts and conflicting color schemes can create a chaotic experience on websites, leaving users confused and likely to leave quickly.
- Slow-loading websites can frustrate users and cause them to abandon a page within three seconds, affecting site traffic and overall performance.
- Unresponsive design on mobile devices can lead to a poor user experience, as pages may appear squished, oversized, or difficult to navigate, driving away more than 50% of users.
- Illegible fonts and poor typography can lead to eye strain and headaches for users, making it difficult to read and understand content.
- Lack of clear call-to-action buttons can confuse users and make it difficult for them to take the desired action, such as making a purchase or submitting a form.
- Many popular brands, such as Zara, Wayfair, eBay, Lipton, Madewell, Paper Source, The Room: Official Movie Site, IMDb, and Fandango, suffer from poor design and navigational issues, leaving users frustrated and potentially never returning.
- Poor user experience, accessibility blind spots, and ineffective use of images and graphics can drive away potential customers and harm a business's reputation.
- To improve website performance, it is essential to optimize site speed, create visually cohesive layouts, make the site responsive on mobile devices, use legible fonts, provide clear calls-to-action, and minimize the use of intrusive ads.
- Businesses can suffer from damaged reputations and lower conversion rates due to terrible design, but making improvements to address these issues can lead to increased traffic, brand loyalty, and positive SEO outcomes.
