Top Ten Website Mistakes

Surfing the internet for information can be a painful process. Some websites can be so hard to read that it literally hurts. Or, they take so long to download it's not worth the trouble. Or, they're so annoying that they actually drive visitors away.

Granted, we all started as beginners, so first-time web builders are going to make mistakes as a matter of course. But there is no excuse for making the same mistakes over and over, especially when there are plenty of good examples to follow. Here are the top ten website problems that I encounter almost on a daily basis.

The list is in no particular order, nor is it intended to be comprehensive.

1. Nine-mile-long Home pages that contain everything including the kitchen sink will not be read. Research has shown that less than 10% of visitors will scroll down a long web page. The Home page and, ideally, most of the "first tier" pages that it leads to should not be longer than a typical screen. The exceptions to the rule are deeper, detailed topic pages (such as this one), where the visitor is anticipating more content. If a topic is very lengthy (more than about three screens long), break it into multiple sections; this will have the side-benefits of being quicker to download and a bigger target for search engines to find.

2. Huge images presented with no warning are a death sentence. It's fine to provide enlargements for us to study, but when we aren't offered the option of starting with a small image that links to a large version, and just get that monster jpeg shoved at us without advance notice, it brings everything to a crawl. For folks using dial-up, it's worse times ten, as screen-filling images may take many mind-numbing minutes to download. Not to mention that some images won't even fit on lower-resolution displays because too many web authors assume everyone sees the same thing they do on their own screens. We don't all have broadband and 21-inch monitors, ya know. And remember: your website will always look different to different visitors. There is nothing you can do about it, so deal with it.

3. Thumbnails that aren't real thumbnails are just as bad as huge images. Unfortunately, too many web authors are unaware of the fact that a thumbnail isn't just the size of the image as it appears on the screen. When a huge image is reduced by the browser to a postage stamp-sized thumbnail (which is easily done with a few simple tag properties), we must still download the full-sized original—we just won't see it full-sized. Real thumbnails must first be physically reduced in size using a paint program or other software utility so that the file size itself is correspondingly small—which means having two files, the thumbnail and the full-sized original. That's the whole point of thumbnails. Tangentially to this, it would be most helpful if people learned the basics on image file types and compression: not all image file types can be displayed in a browser, and not all big images need to be big files.

4. Background music and sound effects should be banned. Some folks seem to have no idea that train whistles or railroad tunes are major bandwidth hogs, not to mention they're really, really annoying to a lot of us—not everybody shares the same tastes in entertainment. (Why is it that 90% of all railroad-themed music is "mah-dawg-dahd" Country-Western?) And most visitors have no way of preventing the sound files from being downloaded; the instant we hit the web page, everything slams to a halt until the sound file is complete, regardless of whether or not we even have a sound card. Broadband helps, of course, but many still have dial-up (you should not ignore them); plus, if a visitor does not have the right software to play your sound effect, they may instead be presented with an error message—not the best way to greet your guests, is it?

5. Animations are not only bandwidth hogs, but they're extremely distracting to the eye, making it a challenge to read the content. In a major study on website usability, it was discovered that people actually covered animations with their hands so they could read the content. What does the webmaster really want us to do, learn about their layout, or admire all of their cutesy wig-wags and crossing signals? By the way, scrolling text and other "clever" JavaScript tricks fall into the same category. Also, there's no need to impress anyone with your Flash presentations. Most of them are hokey and annoying, and besides, not everyone has Flash installed or enabled.

6. Bright colors or images for the page background make a bad situation worse. Fact is, reading text on a computer screen produces significantly more eye strain than reading a printed page—and that's with a plain background. When you use bright, saturated colors, eyestrain can literally become painful (some pages make my eyes water). And background images of any kind can make reading all but impossible. The webmaster may think their background looks cool, but they're not the ones who need to read the content. Try plain black text on a plain white background—it may look boring, but it's the easiest on everyone's eyes. Please be kind, and think of your guests.

7. Simple, intuitive navigation is vital for visitors to find content. Beginning web authors need to take some extra time to think about how people can easily find all of their stuff before they start throwing their pages together. Visiting good sites first provides an opportunity to learn. Usually it's helpful to think of a website as a book, with the home page serving as the table of contents. Here's a useful rule: always give visitors at least one other place to go on every page, even if it's just back home. "Dead end" pages not only frustrate some visitors, but they create black holes if they're accessed through a search engine. Be aware that a person can enter your site through any page, not just the home page. Also, forget about using frames—they are difficult to code properly, they mess up search engines, and they can prevent people from book-marking pages of interest.

8. "Under Construction" and "Coming Soon" signs are much worse than simply annoying. More often than not they're a lie—the vast majority of web authors never get around to finishing those last few pages, and the Coming Soon signs become permanent fixtures. This creates a psychological downer for visitors: they see a link to something exciting, get all worked up, click the link, and... dead end. No payoff. They leave the website frustrated, likely to never return. Good websites are always under construction, so there is no need to warn us about it. Do everyone a big favor and leave unfinished pages out of a site until they really are finished.

9. What's the point of links that open new browser windows? Studies have shown that, first, it annoys people, and second, contrary to popular belief, it does not improve their ability to navigate the internet. Recently I came across a website where, inexplicably, all of its own internal navigation links opened new windows, not just the links to external sites, as is often the propensity of web authors these days. Since I have popup-blocking engaged, at first none of the site links did anything, and it looked as if the webmaster really messed up. Once I figured out the problem, I soon had a dozen open windows, all for the same site—truly a navigation nightmare. Links lead us from point to point, like a hiking trail; that's how people naturally tend to follow content, so that's how links should behave. With precious few exceptions (such as image enlargements), opening new windows serves no useful purpose. Besides, if someone wants to open a link in a new window or tab, they have that ability by right-clicking on the link and selecting that action. Please be courteous and give your visitors the option to decide.

10. Websites that dictate the use of certain browsers and/or screen resolution settings are immediate candidates for the recycling bin. Ideally, every website should accommodate everyone, using any browser and any computer configuration (some people will be accessing your site using special browsers designed for blind people—yes, really). Dictating how visitors must view your website is a sign of selfishness and/or ignorance. If you're trying to promote the use of your favorite browser by making your site unfriendly to other browsers, you're a fool—your opinion only serves to frustrate visitors who do not share your narrow point of view. And if you don't know how to make your website universally browser-friendly, then learn—a quick search will provide countless sources of practical how-to information. There's no excuse for requiring a visitor to have or do anything special in order to access your information. And it bears repeating: your website will always look different to different visitors. There is nothing you can do about it, so deal with it.

Golden rule: KISS.

End of rant. (But here's some more grumbling.)

—David K. Smith, 13 October 2006

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