OT: What not to do in site design

  • Thread starter Adrienne Boswell
  • Start date
A

Adrienne Boswell

Just surfing around today and came across this gem:
http://www.bluestarjets.com/

Notice the flash thingy on top goes right and the marquee below it
goes left. So, I guess one would have to be cross-eyed to really
appreciate it.
 
C

cwdjrxyz

Just surfing around today and came across this gem:http://www.bluestarjets.com/

Notice the flash thingy on top goes right and the marquee below it
goes left. So, I guess one would have to be cross-eyed to really
appreciate it.

Well that flash thing at the top does get you attention in a hurry.
However, at least for me, the attention it gets is negative. However I
have seen some flash moving things on some major sites recently that
annoy me even more. When you move the cursor close to them, they
expand greatly to obscure much text, and start moving around. This
sort of excess is what gives flash a bad name. Perhaps the flash
motion on this page is about what you see if on one of the charter
jets and hit you rough air - and then rapidly reach for the barf
bag :).

But there are also a few videos listed on the right side of the page.
These are wmv videos. They vary considerably in bit rate. At least you
have to click to start these videos.

Things get even more strange if you look at the source code and
validate. The W3C does not find a Doctype at the top of the page where
it belongs. However there is an html 4 Dctype way down on line 779(as
numbered by the W3C validator). How in the world it got there on the
1142 lines of source code, I will never know. Then another jewel is a
section of the code where <p>&nbsp;</p> is repeated 20 times, one line
after the other. The validator finds over 70 errors when validated as
html 4.01. The code seems to be the html equivalent of vegetable soup
- all sorts of versions of html mixed.

Surely a single person could not have written this code by hand. It
looks as if it might have been written and modified by several people,
perhaps over several years, and perhaps with the aid of one or more
Microsoft or other programs for writing html.

If the writers of this page charge by the lines of code, they likely
would get a very nice fee for this page.
 
M

M

Adrienne Boswell said:
Just surfing around today and came across this gem:
http://www.bluestarjets.com/

Notice the flash thingy on top goes right and the marquee below it
goes left. So, I guess one would have to be cross-eyed to really
appreciate it.

I like the cinematic look to the Flash thingy.

The tag line would be catchy if I knew what they meant by black. (Black =
opposite of "in the red"?)

The marquee though? It didn't even show up in my Firefox.

BTW, has anyone here ever contacted a business with a poor online design and
offered to do it better for them? Seems like a great way to drum up work.

M
 
A

asdf

[snip]
BTW, has anyone here ever contacted a business with a poor online design
and offered to do it better for them? Seems like a great way to drum up
work.

M

Yes. Most don't give a s**t about good design though, clients like their
flashy rubbish and backgrounds :/ Frankly, I haven't got the time or
inclination to educate them about simple UI design principles, accessible
design and 'maintainability'. They simply don't care. They generally want
something to show their boss to make them go 'ooohhh' and earn them a few
browny points. Fair enough- it's their money. Some would even be happy with
the animated gif of the flaming torch (remember that?) lol. At least I
manage to talk them out of 'under construction' logos.

The upside is, of course, that those few who say 'yes' are 'good clients'
(as opposed to those who pay good money for your opinions, expertise and
experience, then systematically ignore them).

Still, apparently the client is always right, even when they are wrong. I'm
happy to produce rubbish for them, provided they don't tell anyone I did it
:))) In fact, if any clients are reading this, the reason your site didn't
make it into my folio is that I produced what you wanted, rather than what
you needed - hence bad design - QED

Do I sound bitter? ROFL
 
R

rf

BTW, has anyone here ever contacted a business with a poor online design
and offered to do it better for them? Seems like a great way to drum up
work.

I once told my favourite ski site that their new 10px mid grey on light grey
text was hard to read. They told me how to use my accessibility options to
ignore their font size and colours :)
 
J

JD

Adrienne said:
Just surfing around today and came across this gem:
http://www.bluestarjets.com/

Notice the flash thingy on top goes right and the marquee below it
goes left. So, I guess one would have to be cross-eyed to really
appreciate it.

A good reminder of why I have Flash disabled in my main browser.

And why did they use images for the text links in the left-hand side
navigation? Talk about making the job harder for no appreciable benefit.
 
T

Travis Newbury

Just surfing around today and came across this gem:http://www.bluestarjets.com/

I had no problem with it, and as a side note I have to thank you, I
booked a flight for my wife and I to Orlando for our 26th anniversary.
(As bad as the web page might be, they do offer some great prices on
charters, and if you have never flown charter before, it is WELL worth
the few bucks extra it costs!)
 
T

Travis Newbury

A good reminder of why I have Flash disabled in my main browser.

And why did they use images for the text links in the left-hand side
navigation? Talk about making the job harder for no appreciable benefit.

Man you all must really lead dull lives...
 
C

Chris F.A. Johnson

Man you all must really lead dull lives...

And they're made duller by badly made websites such as those where
text is in images that are too small to read.
 
A

Adrienne Boswell

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed Travis Newbury
I had no problem with it, and as a side note I have to thank you, I
booked a flight for my wife and I to Orlando for our 26th anniversary.
(As bad as the web page might be, they do offer some great prices on
charters, and if you have never flown charter before, it is WELL worth
the few bucks extra it costs!)

That's great, I'm glad that happened for you. Happy Anniversary!
 
D

dorayme

Adrienne Boswell said:
Gazing into my crystal ball I observed Travis Newbury


That's great, I'm glad that happened for you. Happy Anniversary!

My sentiments too. Good on you Travis.

All this turning off of images and Flash is fine, but perhaps too
much boasting about it is suffers another kind of fault.
 
N

Neredbojias

I had no problem with it, and as a side note I have to thank you, I
booked a flight for my wife and I to Orlando for our 26th anniversary.
(As bad as the web page might be, they do offer some great prices on
charters, and if you have never flown charter before, it is WELL worth
the few bucks extra it costs!)

Aren't you kinda old to be a radical?
 
A

asdf

Travis Newbury said:
I am kind of old for a lot of things...

Actually, I find young people kinda conservative these days... safe sex,
voting republican, christian, you name it. The most radical person I know
personally is 74 years old.
 
J

Jonathan N. Little

asdf said:
Actually, I find young people kinda conservative these days... safe sex,
voting republican, christian, you name it. The most radical person I know
personally is 74 years old.

That's because they no longer need to impress anyone.
 
N

nice.guy.nige

While the city slept, Travis Newbury ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...
Man you all must really lead dull lives...

0.6k for the "Home" link, which would be 4 characters of suitably styled
text otherwise... Hell, it's their bandwidth ;-)

Cheers,
Nige
 
N

nice.guy.nige

While the city slept, Travis Newbury ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...
I am kind of old for a lot of things...

That reminds me of the classic "I am not young enough to know everything"
quote ;-) Congrats on the anniversary.

Cheers,
Nige
 
N

Neredbojias

I am kind of old for a lot of things...

Here's an ad lib rap song pour vous:

Know the feeling, don't like it.
Rather be young, and spike it.

Mamma always yelled, "Don't loaf-o!"
Now I'ze just, an old mofo.

Bones iz brittle, teeth be rotten.
Good days gone, 'most forgotten.

Wish I had me, a young filly,
And a newer, piccadilly.

<g>

Anyway, best wishes for the anniv. and I hope you have another 26 years at
least to enjoy.
 

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