The 7 Deadly Sins Of Web Design

Sin 1 - Starfield backgrounds
You know the sort – zillions of tiny white pixels glinting back at you from behind the text. Beautiful. Not! In a galaxy far, far away, in a time long, long ago people thought this was cool. It’s not. It sucks and people who use it should be shot.

Sin 2 - Anything that moves.
Okay, that’s maybe a little bit harsh – let me zero in on something more specific - animated cursors. I know 12 year-old kids that think they’re crap. Wise up and lose the Homer Simpson cursor that leaves a wake of donut crumbs behind it as it moves across the screen. Please, I beg you, destroy them all!

Sin 3 - Fading Page Changes.
You’ve not seen these? Oh honestly – they’re wonderful. You click on a link to get to your chosen section and then suddenly the whole ass of the website morphs up into itself before re-appearing like a re-constituting Captain Kirk being beamed back into existence. Supreme. Whoever invented this deserves a medal. Ideally a medal that is extremely heavy, irremovable and is presented during a mid-ocean ceremony..

Sin 4 - Wide Load Websites.
You know the ones. You’re just getting into a sentence and then suddenly you realise that the last quarter of the sentence is not on your monitor – it’s extended into your kitchen somewhere and you need scrollbar shenanigans of Herculean proportions just to get to it. Wide load websites? Give them a wide berth.

Sin 5 - Designed By The Criminally Insane.

Words escape me:
http://www.chipotle.com

Sin 6 - Reflective Ripple Effects.
Absolute classic this one, I would be doing the Internet world a disservice if I left it out. You must have seen these in action – you come across a website (usually a personal one on free webspace) and there’s a picture depicting a tranquil scene, normally, though not always, containing a river or lake in it. And then the really tacky bit – the owner has lifted a bit of code from somewhere that makes the lower portion of the image appear as if it is rippling. The effect makes you feel like you’re having a water cannon loaded with chocolate ice-cream fired down your throat – it’s quite amusing and good fun for the first 2 seconds but you soon start to feel sick and dizzy wondering if there’s an off-button within reach…

Sin 7 - “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” Navigation.
Truly an invention of the devil this one. You can’t make head nor tail of what the little blobs on the navigation bar are supposed to be so you hover your mouse over them. But oh no – getting a description or hover-over clue now would be too easy. So instead the whole navigation bar starts scrolling past your mouse.
The more you move your cursor to catch up with the section you wanted to click on the faster everything starts spinning. Before you know it you’ve got a migraine, a sore wrist from moving your mouse too much and one less hour of your life left. If you’ve never witnessed scrolling, moving, “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” navigation just thank your lucky starfield backgrounds..
So remember people – don’t have nightmares and don’t commit any of the above cardinal sins!