One of the best things about the internet is how, in theory, the things on it can last forever. If no one makes the decision to remove it, it can last there infinitely, like some kind of digital museum rarity.
However, it is much less fun when today’s websites use these types of elements. The hundred different fonts, terrible backgrounds, and small, low-quality images. How crazy to imagine a website in 2018 still using these looks. Yet it happens, and much more often than you think.
With that in mind, here are 5 terrible web design mistakes that even a talented web design expert will make from time to time. Suffice it to say that if your website uses any of these aspects, it may be time to think about an update.
- Garish colors
I’d like to think that web developers have learned a lot about color theory in the last 20 years and, for the most part, they have. The use of complementary colors, often subtle or pastel tones, which help to add a visual touch to a design, is now the norm.
Then there are the websites that think that color is the most important aspect of a website, rather than the content. These websites then put it in your face. Websites with bright red or garish green designs. These websites are a visual nightmare and no web design expert would make these decisions, so we can only hope they are caused by aggressive clients.
- Too many fonts
Choosing the right font can do a lot for a piece of text. It can be presented professionally (Arial), perhaps with more characters (Papyrus), or it can be cartoonish to appeal to children (Comic Sans), while Sans Serif fonts are theoretically easier to read on screens.
With all these possibilities, it can be difficult to know which one to choose. What if you want a different meaning for each piece of text on the screen? Of course, use 30 different fonts!
No do not do that. He was using sarcasm to illustrate a point. Too many fonts on screen can be confusing to see, as each style is struggling to get attention. The text itself loses all the flow it has as your eyes jump from one source to another, instead of focusing on the content itself.
- Music
Music on websites is one of the most memorable aspects of websites from the early 2000s. MySpace was the most prominent of the criminals, with the ability to add your own song to your profile. The idea was to help visitors get an idea of who you are and what your personality is.
People did this for years, despite knowing that every time they entered someone else’s profile, the first thing they did was turn off the horrible music that was playing. Adding music to your web page is distracting and anything you choose is unlikely to attract all (or any) visitors you receive. However, the most important thing is that it changes the first thought of the users of:
“What a lovely website. What should I look at first?” within
“How the hell can I turn this horrible music?”
This is known as “Starting off on the wrong foot.”
- Background
As I mentioned on the Space Jam website, it has a ghastly space background, with bright stars to distract you. Well guess what? That kind of background is still being used. The space theme is certainly less common, but dark backgrounds with repeating patterns still exist on a multitude of websites. They are distracting and even if the pattern is made from the company logo, it ruins the design and theme and looks unimaginably youthful.
Generally, a background should be a block color, usually pastel or faded. This then highlights and complements the content, rather than struggling with it for attention.
- Confusing navigation:
Augmented reality games (ARG) are played online, often on seemingly innocent websites. ARGs are a story that spans multiple websites. Readers must interact with the websites, research, and solve puzzles along the way to continue the story. For these games to work, navigating the website is intentionally awkward as it creates a challenge for players to solve.
Unless your website is running an ARG, and I highly doubt it is, then it should have clean and simple navigation. Your users are not yet engaged with the website and will find no pleasure in struggling to find the section of your website that they want. Any self-respecting web design expert should be able to create a simple web design that accentuates a simple and enjoyable user experience.
