On My Mind, Through My Eyes

Battle of the (Bad) Sites

Las Vegas Review Journal versus The Sun

The Review Journal’s web site is complicated!  There is too much going on; too many sizes and different fonts, and it seems like there is no focus or decernable organization to the site .

The Las Vegas Sun is a little more organized.  The heading catches my attention, the theme and colors are good but a little too simple and bland for a website.  There are too many categories, columns, content, fonts, and sizes going on throughout the home page.

Winner: The Las Vegas Sun

The New York Times verses The Wall Street Journal

The New York Times‘ site is even worse! There is too much of everything, except what we expect to see on a website- (some sort of) design.  They crammed way too much on the home page.  Why don’t they just make the home page simple… so I can choose what I want to see.

(Are these news outlets trying to make us want to go back to newspapers for our news?  Websites like these make me want to pick up a physical piece of newspaper rather than sort my way through these pages!)

The Wall Street Journal’s website has a little more design, but still feels like the entire Sunday paper is crammed onto the home page.  There are too many columns, too much content and the font is so small I feel like my grandma trying to read without glasses (no offense grandma).

Winner: Wall Street Journal

Sigh…..

All in all, in my opinion- they all fail web design.  I would expect more from these four, they should be setting the standard.

I would rather pick up the latest edition at the store than try to fight through the mess of content on these pages

I also visited the Las Vegas Weekly website and yes, they had the same issues as above… “sigh”

So what have we learned from these BAD sites?

1. Hard to read text/unorganized content: that’s the end of it- if the meat of the page is bad I won’t even try it
2. Too much going on: We already have enough information-overload going on in our lives.  And this includes ADVERTISING- I can handle the occasional, but enough’s enough
3. Complicated navigation: I just want to get to where I’m going in one click, not five
4. Unhelpful search engine: I know what I want to find, I just can’t find it!
5. Contact Information: I want to know who I can speak to by phone- not email, not fax, not mail….
6. Invisible/Difficult sign-in: Where do I get to my account already?
7. Spelling and grammar:  I’m a stickler on this! A professional page should not have spelling and grammar mistakes- ever.
8. Small pictures: This is the best part of the web site, I want to see what you’re talking about
9. Inconsistent design: I don’t get it- why is this on your site and how does it fit?

I borrowed a few from the “65 most-annoying thing about the web today“- too funny and too true).

1. Auto-playing home page video. Take note ESPN.com: the first thing I do when coming to your site is scramble to find the video pause button. And that’s when I’m surfing from home.
2. Theme tunes. Got to love that auto-play music, especially when it cycles over and over and over, and over.
3. Auto opt-ins. It seems like an automatic opt-in is a contradiction in terms to me. No I don’t want your newsletter, and if I did, I’d opt-in.
4. Complicated forms: too many fields. This is utterly exhausting. Oh forget it, I’m going to abandon this form.
5. The reset button. Do we really need this? I especially love it when I accidentally press “reset” instead of “submit”. It’s especially satisfying when it’s a long form.
6. Remembering user names and passwords. Seriously, how many do I need to keep track of?
7. Forced password reset. I just want to know my password! The one I chose but have forgotten. I know you know.

So there you have it.  A criticism of the big players in the media industry from the little player aspiring to be a big player.  Ironic?

Share This