Comments on: Five Ways that Websites Suck

By: Five ways your blog or website can SUCK

Five ways your blog or website can SUCK — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:08:40 +0000

[...] Eric Eggertson over at the CommonSense PR blog has five, pretty good criteria you can use to assess your website/ blog’s level of sucking… or not. He suggest that you consider: [...]

By: Eric Eggertson

Eric Eggertson — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:38:47 +0000

Sara:

I think consistency and intuitiveness is the important thing for navigation design and the wording of website sections, etc.

As for language, if your site is aimed at tech geeks, you’ll probably use more tech jargon than a site aimed at seniors or soccer players (not that lots of seniors and soccer players don’t know tech jargon, but it’s alienating to those that don’t).

I try to aim for 7th grade with a lot of my writing, but if a word or phrase is right for the audience, I don’t steer away from it because the average 7th grader would have to look it up in the dictionary. Straightforward language doesn’t have to be simplistic.

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:48:02 +0000

Then again hopefully the design is so good, it’s usable by both newbies and experts!

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:47:09 +0000

Nice post, Eric! :) I like #5, though I’m torn. Some days when I see the “how to use this site” pages/links on websites, I want to tear my hair out thinking “shouldn’t it just be so well-designed that you don’t need that” but on the other hand, I applaud a site for trying to assist newbies/novices. Some writing advice guides will tell you to write for 5th graders, while others will say to write for an educated adults. So should websites be designed for novice surfers, or savvy web users?

By: Five ways that websites SUCK !!! « Interactive thinking

Five ways that websites SUCK !!! « Interactive thinking — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:17:51 +0000

[...] 5, 2007 at 5:17 pm · Filed under Uncategorized Διαβάστε εδω αυτό το αρκετά ενδιαφέρον [...]

By: Eric Eggertson

Eric Eggertson — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:37:06 +0000

Ian:

The main problem I had when I visited your site was the number of ads and doodads at the top. There were no headlines in sight, and no indication of what lay further down.

I’d suggest getting some HTML help to string the items across the top, so they don’t take up so much vertical space, delete some of them, or move them into the left margin.

The other quibble I have is the use of italics for body copy. It’s a rare website that can pull of italics and make it as easy to read as regular text.

Interesting stuff. The ring-wearing guitar player photos are truly gross!

By: Ian Bourne

Ian Bourne — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:07:18 +0000

I am curious if you would visit mine and let me know if it falls in any of the traps you warn about – I do not think so but I could be wrong…

By: Sherwin

Sherwin — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:51:02 +0000

I can add here sites that break in Firefox, or any other browser for that matter.

By: Favorite Posts for July 23-27 « The Transfer

Favorite Posts for July 23-27 « The Transfer — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:07:19 +0000

[...] Five Ways the Websites Suck- Eric Eggerston from Common Sense PR outlines five easily implemented but often neglected principles of website creation and organization. As I read the post, several websites popped into my mind. I’ll bet we can all list our fair share of sites that transgress these essential rules. [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:03:21 +0000

Eric, I particularly agree with you on point #2. I am completely turned off by the mindless copy that appears on so many websites, and along the same lines, I would be embarrassed if my site were full of the spelling and grammar errors I constantly see out there. It’s pure carelessness. Great post!