How not to make a web page

[vovat]

l8erngr8er made a reply to this post about how web pages that are too busy can be irritating. I have to agree, and when I thought about it, I started coming up with a whole bunch of annoying things that people do with their web pages (which includes blogs, MySpace pages, and the like). I was going to mention some of them in a comment, but then I decided that the topic merited its own post. So here are just a few annoying things about some people's web pages:

• Embedded music. I'll admit that I thought this was kind of cool when I first came across it over ten years ago, but it didn't take me long to realize that I didn't WANT to hear some midi every time I looked at a page. It's particularly annoying when you're already listening to music, or you're using a computer in a public place. I don't want to have to waste my time searching the page for a pause button. Music is cool, but let people CHOOSE whether or not they want to hear it at a specific time.
  
  
• Text that doesn't show up against the background. Granted, this can sometimes vary from one display to another, but I've seen some text that's almost impossible to make out unless you highlight it.
  
  
• Along much the same lines, pages that don't display properly on certain browsers/computers bother me. I understand that this is going to happen sometimes, because when somebody designs a personal web page, they're usually not going to have the time or ability to try it out on every possible browser and display setting. The problem comes in when somebody says something like, "Hey, this doesn't display properly on Netscape," and the creator says, "So what? Netscape sucks." Well, hey, maybe Netscape DOES suck, but some people prefer it, or don't have the choice as to which browser to use (especially if they're using a public computer). When people make pages that are "optimized for Internet Explorer 7.0" or whatever, that seems to me to be a form of snobbery. And snobbery isn't cool, is it?
  
  
• Images that are too wide, and stretch out the page. This is especially annoying on LJ, when people insist on posting huge images without using cuts. I suppose it's not quite as bad as when people post quiz results that end up putting the bottom of your friends page at the top of the page. I'm not sure how that happens, but what's even more puzzling is how people who post things like that apparently don't know about it and fix it as soon as possible.
  
  On the other hand, I hate the browser setting that automatically resizes images, so that some of them become way too small to see properly. There are sometimes good reasons for an image to be too big for a browser window. It's just that these images shouldn't share a page with text, unless it's absolutely necessary.
  
  
• Putting the wrong stuff in automatically generated fields. I seem to see this quite a bit in MySpace pages, where people will use the "Name," "Location," "Favorite Movies," and other fields to write some long, irrelevant paragraph. What, you really couldn't find anywhere else to put that paragraph, and either actually fill in those fields, or else just leave them blank?
  
  
• Comic Sans. Enough said. Also any font that's too small to see, so big as to look incredibly tacky, or just generally difficult to read.
  
  
• Some people have LJ info pages, MySpace pages, or whatever where they have a whole bunch of those "Which [x] are you?" quiz results posted. I can see putting on one or two that you find particularly amusing or reflective of your personality, but making people scroll through zillions of them in order to see the rest of the actual content is pretty cruel.
  

I'm sure there are plenty of things I could add to this list, but I can't think of any offhand. Any ideas?

Comments

[amyawesome.livejournal.com]

I especially hate the irrelevant info input in myspace favorites fields. So annoying! And the long long long surveys people put in their infos are ridiculous as well.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I especially hate the irrelevant info input in myspace favorites fields.

I can't tell whether they're trying to rebel against the stay-within-the-lines mentality, or they're just dumb. The net result is the same either way, though.

And long surveys fall into pretty much the same category as the quiz results. Why would anyone thing an info page is the best place to put such things?

[amyawesome.livejournal.com]

my theory is that they have no personalities and think quiz results supply them with what they lack.

[loz]

I agree with all of these.

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

>> * Which [x] are you?" quiz results posted. I can see putting on one or two that you find particularly amusing or reflective of your personality, but making people scroll through zillions of them in order to see the rest of the actual content is pretty cruel.
<<

That's the profiles of everybody I went to high school with pretty much.

>>his is especially annoying on LJ, when people insist on posting huge images without using cuts.<<

I worry that I do that a lot.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I can't recall your having posted anything wide enough to produce the horizontal scroll bar in the brower window, although some other people have. I usually try to put all but the smallest pictures behind cuts, because I can remember trying to load my friends page on dial-up, and it would always get stuck on the pictures. Even though I don't use dial-up anymore, I try to be sympathetic to those who still might.