November 27, 2006 in Business

A world of tangled Web sites

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Long ago, the Internet was composed of a relatively small number of Web sites and the people to design them. That quickly changed as the Web’s popularity spread like an unchecked computer virus. “Suddenly, everyone with half a knowledge of HTML and the ability to draw straight lines began to think they could make a decent (and cool) homepage. Nuh-uh,” say the purveyors of Worst of the Web, at www.worstoftheweb.com. Every few days for the past 10 years, the site’s three Web designers have picked a woeful site and mocked its design, content and other cyber-gaffes. Their clear message: Don’t let this happen to you. Their yuck choice: The official Web site for Forrest County, Miss. (www.co.forrest.ms.us), is filled with dead links and blank pages. “This page is so lacking in content, they should just replace the flowers with tumbleweeds,” Worst of the Web says.

For everyday Web-design tips, Web Pages That Suck’s Daily Sucker section (www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ the-worst-web-page-in-the-world, then click on the link) offers plenty of pitiful sites from which to learn by bad example. But when a Web site’s design faux pas reach mammoth proportions, it receives the dubious honor of being listed as the Worst Web Page in the World — until another one comes along. Their yuck choice: The Web site for Roger Art (www.rogerart.com), an online gallery, features a black background with multicolored letters, rambling prose and rotating peace signs in place of the letter O. Scrolling to the bottom of the home page covers more than 100 screen lengths. “My mother could design a better-looking site,” says Web Pages That Suck, “and she’s dead.”

PC World recently compiled its list of the 25 worst Web sites (read it at www.startribune.com/a1915). What makes its list so great is that it targets popular Web sites that might actually be familiar to some people, such as CD Universe and Pets.com. PC World also featured a surprisingly brave pick at No. 1 — the highly popular MySpace (www.myspace.com). “The Web’s most visited destination is also its most poorly designed and counterproductive,” PC World said. “Graphically, many MySpace pages look like a teenager’s bedroom after a tornado — a swirl of clashing backgrounds, boxes stacked inside other boxes, massive photos and sonic disturbance.”

– McClatchy

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