Worst Web Pages

I always get discouraged when I google something and pick a link that seems to have exactly what I am looking for, only to open a site that has nothing to do with what I am searching. Or worse yet, some annoying error message that explains that the page is no longer available, which makes me wonder why it came up on the search in the first place. Still, an error message would be preferable to dealing with some of the sites that came up on the Web Pages That Suck website. They are definitely there for a reason.

I think it must have been difficult to limit the list of sites provided of the 10 Worst Web Pages Featured on Web Pages That Suck in 2006, which explains the second list of the 10 Worst Web Sites to Navigate in 2006. Here are my impressions of the first list.

#10 Brown University
I have found in the past that there are many universities with difficult to navigate sites. This is one that I think was worse than most. I think the first lesson that they could learn is adopting the same style as the stores we looked at in class with nice white backgrounds on their sites. Many of the rows of links move up when I try to click on them, which is annoying too. The undergraduate link on the “Academic Life” bar takes the user to the office of the dean. It’s confusing! To borrow a line from UPS, what can Brown do for me? Redesign their site.

#9 NEIU Foreign Exchange Lab
Well, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to say much on this site since the provided link gave me some error message, but I didn’t let that stop me from finding the site. I couldn’t believe that this site was an extension of the Northeastern Illinois University. The rainbow header switches through the different languages that it I found it difficult to read even when words in English flew through. Apparently an opera, Manon, is our cyberguide for the site, which features a Beverly Sills album of the cyberguide’s opera. The black silk background and rose borders make this site feel like it should feature Fabio and the latest bodice-ripped romance novel rather than links for students’ education. This site is also full of dead links. Oh, that they were all that way!

#8 Red Blood Club
I don’t have a lot to say about this site. It is just a glorified link to the MySpace page for this establishment. The content is graphic and offensive so I didn’t bother to spend much time exploring. The initial page is disturbing enough that you get a general sense of the content.

#7 Tampax
Not much to say here either. The vertical menu does make the site difficult to navigate. The ‘cute factor’ is a bit overdone too. They provide some serious information for women regarding abuse, rape and women’s health issue with colorful bubbly backgrounds. It seems a little contradictory to me. Also, women’s issues are all in the same group as issues that young women face. It would be nice to see a little more thought go into the organization of the menu.

#6 LongsCycle
I never thought I would see a site that dedicated so much passion to socks (and other cycling apparel)! The left side menu is like a mantra with repetitions of SAVE and CYCLING this and that. The use of highlighting text already large enough to read from space is also a little redundant. The person who submitted the site noted that “this site comes up number one in the Google search for ‘cycling clothes.’” I tested this and in fact it does. I have to agree with the Web Pages that Suck site manager that this definitely shows the “irony of how high they rank vs. the quality of the web site.” My eyes had glowing yellow bars in them when I blinked for hours after viewing this site.

#5 HRODC
Just a word of caution. This site took forever to open (and close!) on my computer. Check it out when you have time to kill. Speaking of killing, how do I pull the plug on this site? Resource and Organisational Development Consultancy Ltd.’s site is one that, instead of offering you a menu with similar items grouped under a tab, have just laid it all out for you in one giant pile. If you scroll down below the initial table you have a menu on the left-hand side but some of the writing is cut off. . I clicked one link to see where it took me and after waiting for 60+ items to load, the screen never changed. I figured out that if I scrolled down I would find the linked information but not only did I have to scroll down but left to right to see all of it. And if that wasn’t enough there was another extensive menu on the right-hand side associated with that particular link. It seems they need to study numbers 53 and 54 on their home page a little more.

#4 Accept Jesus, Forever Forgiven!
Another word of caution, don your sunglasses and turn down your speakers before loading this site! Well, where do I begin? I could start with the psychedelic rainbow that backgrounds the home page or I could say something about the chipper midi music which cannot be turned off. Maybe I should mention that every time you hit a link and then hit the back button it sounds like you just stopped on the black path that continuously crosses your path on the bottom of the screen. I think maybe I’ll go with the name of the organization – the Empowered Evangelical Charismatic Protestant Bible Gospel Christian Ministry. Say that ten times fast! And for those users who don’t feel like getting up and dressed to go to church on Sunday, just grab your Second Life Bible and meet other member in the CyberChurch [12] in Second Life. This site has received 23 awards inlcuding the Excellence in Fishing Award and the Beautiful Site Award, which perhaps was awarded by users of site #2 on my list.

#3 TIE — VTR Australia, Ms. Dewey, and CyberAtlas
I started out reviewing Ms. Dewey as I thought it would be interesting, but it just became annoying really fast because I had to sit and wait while she pondering the questions I gave her. So I tried the video of VTR Australia and literally got motion sickness watching the navigating of their site. It has been changed. I skipped Cyber Atlas. I couldn’t take much more.

#2 Association of International Glaucoma Societies
The initial look of this website gives me the impression that I expect somewhere to find my horoscope for the day. The dizzy dancing heads at the top left corner, aside from being annoying, seem a little insulting for a site for people who have eyesight problems. The scrolling menu on the left-hand side seems in the usual order but as I scrolled to the bottom I am met by a disturbing image of someone’s eye that seems a little voyeuristic. Then I clicked on it and it blinked! Really creepy! But if that is your sort of thing you might be interested in downloading the Glaucoma Hymn (with accompanying lyrics). I actually listened to all 3½ minutes of it, which strangely left me wanting to see that musical about that state that is just below Kansas.

#1 Optimal World
This site appears to be inactive now. Maybe after making the list they took it down to redesign it. I tried to find another way in but all links seem to be dead. It’s probably for the best anyway.

This has been interesting seeing how badly people can screw up a website. I find it hard to believe that they don’t see some flaws in their design as they are creating it but I guess it takes all sorts.