Joy Of Code - Web Design Training and Consulting
Joy Gems Newsletter

The Funer Side Of Web Design

By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor

v2 i11
Originally Published: August 3, 2006

Summertime. Time for fun. Time to vacate. Time to look at things entertaining.

A way long time ago, I discovered Vincent Flanders' Web Sites That Suck. It's a hoot, but it's also instructive. How can you resist anything called "The Daily Sucker?" I lived in fear that Flanders and his followers would spotlight something I designed.

What Flanders well knows is that, in order to get a handle on best web design practices, we have to look at examples of things site developers and designers should NOT do. He doesn't pick on web sites just because they are train wrecks - all he'd have to do is find stuff that gets spit out by MS Front Page. When Flanders picks on a site it is with good reason, and his critique is fun and well spoken.

I agree with many of his The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004, even when he takes a stab at some of the things that I hold dear and true.

Worst Of The Web with Buzz, Melvin, and Chip is another review site where the pithy comments are served up weekly. Click on their icons and you'll get a bubble of what each one is thinking. Those guys probably have seen every Flying Monkey site ever made.

I'll be crushed if I ever see one of my Joy Of Code students' web pages fall to "Worst Of The Web" or "Web Sites That Suck."

One other site on The Funer Side is This Is Broken. This one exposes things that don't work in all categories of businesses, including a Web/Tech section. Great stuff and visitors can submit comments on the broken stuff, or submit other busted things for all to review.

I saved the best for last. You've got to see Netdisaster. Go ahead, type in any url and see what a mess lays ahead. If you don't like the mess you're looking at, you can always change it to a better mess. Have fun and make sure you have time for this because it's not your average five second web site.