Pet Hates About Websites

frank

frank

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Why oh why when you visit a website is it a huge box pops up in the middle of the page within the first 3 seconds and before you've had a chance to read anything asking "What Do You Think Of My Website" or some other inane message asking you to leave a review of the site. I've been tempted so many times to do it but i fear my true message wouldn't get past the swear word filter. I wonder how many vistors or potential customers are lost using these message boxes at the start of their websites.

Am I the only one to feel like this or is it a age thing☺
 
Our local "news" paper has umpteen ad popups. Rarely visit it because of them - anything important or interesting gets waved under my nose by Mrs Nod who gets their feed via Farceberk.
 
The local paper did have the nickname (among the staff...) of the Excessive Error. Was part of the DM group at one point and went from being a daily to a weakly (sic!) and is now printed twice a week IIRC as well as their web presence.

My other pet hate in websites is slow loading front pages.
 
Local papers website around here now has an onbnoxious blue banner ár the top saying roughly YOU ARE BLOCKING ADVERTS DON'T WE NEED YOU TO NOT DO THIS TURN AD BLOCKER OFF. I mostly look at it when in at work where I have no control over the ad blocker so it's really intrusive taking up a chunk of the bottom of the page
 
Non-responsive websites really get on my nerves. Or those that are responsive but then have a maximum width like talk photography. Why? Just why can't I layout my screen how I want it, why impose a maximum width. Its 2016 HiDPI is common place on laptops/desktop screens/tvs/mobiles etc...
 
fabs said:
You now you can change your preferences so that there isn't a maximum width, right?
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Why is that not the default? Another pet hate, have good options but hide them.

PS. At least it works :)
 
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Also the newspaper websites with auto-playing videos positioned between blocks of text so when you try to read an item the bloody page is bouncing up and down then suddenly the video starts screeching some advert out at high volume.

That's when I scream and turn into a jibbering wreck. Nurse? Quick!
 
For me it's the current fad of making sites which are wonderfully phone-friendly but just work terribly on actual computers. Well, that and they old classic 'autoplaying videos with sound' thing, although the ability to quickly mute tabs in Chrome helps with that one a bit.
 
"Click for larger view" but all you get is the SAME SIZE IMAGE!!!!!!
 
dan_yell said:
Local papers website around here now has an onbnoxious blue banner ár the top saying roughly YOU ARE BLOCKING ADVERTS DON'T WE NEED YOU TO NOT DO THIS TURN AD BLOCKER OFF. I mostly look at it when in at work where I have no control over the ad blocker so it's really intrusive taking up a chunk of the bottom of the page
Click to expand...

Right click and "open in a private window" or similar, works for pay windows as well.
 
ecoleman said:
Of cours
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DorsetDude said:
My favourite has to be when you are filling out a long form with address, name, password etc, you finish, submit and it then tells you your password didnt contain a number or something AND THEN RESETS ALL THE FIELDS BACK TO EMPTY! :banghead:
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Yes that happened to me yesterday which is annoying especially if you have a word disability.
 
Steep said:
Right click and "open in a private window" or similar, works for pay windows as well.
Click to expand...

brilliant - thanks!

the same site has just also implemented 'fill in this survey before you can view this news story'....
 
The warning for cookies - arrrrgh.

Also, another gripe for local news websites. When I access mine via mobile it has these really annoying ads that take over the whole screen. I often think even if I was thinking about buying whatever it is they're trying to sell, I'd change my mind because of the ads.
 
Autoplay videos. How to make sure I don't visit your site again, ever.
A series of big images whizzing across the top of the homepage, clearly culled from a stock library and adding nothing.
Image of woman holding a phone on the "contact us" page. Why do this? That's not the person answering the phone, she's from a stock library too.
Popups, obviously.
Having loads of marketing cobblers and photos but no actual technical content (ran into this today for the umpteenth time and got cross).
 
Having a website that directs you to phone the company for any kind of anything . Did I look for you in the phone book? NO!
 
Having to type in the code that looks so squggled, even my lecturer couldn't read it....
 
Sites that use the <img> tag attributes Height and Width to create a thumbnail page of multi-megapixel photos.

THAT DOES NOT RESIZE THE IMAGE! :mad:
 
Sites that state "100 people are looking at this hotel right now" "this hotel has been booked 20 times today". Go back to the site a few days later and exactly the same amount of rooms are still available even though it now states "10 people have booked this room today"!
 
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No Button at the Bottom of the Page to take you back up to the top.
 
onomatopoeia said:
Autoplay videos. How to make sure I don't visit your site again, ever.
A series of big images whizzing across the top of the homepage, clearly culled from a stock library and adding nothing.
Image of woman holding a phone on the "contact us" page. Why do this? That's not the person answering the phone, she's from a stock library too.......
Click to expand...

I remember taking a picture of a female colleague smiling and wearing a headset that was used on our company website for the "contact us" page, although that was admittedly about 10 years ago.
 
Fuzzdog said:
are wonderfully phone-friendly but just work terribly on actual computers
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In what sense is a reasonably modern phone not "an actual computer"?

As for pet-hates, sites that presume that they have to offer some crappy cut down version of themselves because I am on a "phone"
 
sirch said:
In what sense is a reasonably modern phone not "an actual computer"?

As for pet-hates, sites that presume that they have to offer some crappy cut down version of themselves because I am on a "phone"
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My phone and pc are both 1440p resolution so they dont need "phone friendly" dumbed down versions of the website
 
viv1969 said:
Not on a phone.
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I have no idea if this is a universal thing and works on Android and/or other browsers (hopefully it is, but I don't have access to other devices to test), but...
With Safari on iOS - double tapping the very top of the screen will scroll back to the top of the page.
 
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TonyHall said:
I have no idea if this is a universal thing and works on Android and/or other browsers (hopefully it is, but I don't have access to other devices to test), but...
With Safari on iOS - double tapping the very top of the screen will scroll back to the top of the page.
Click to expand...
A feature I missed on any other phone I've had. Love it and been there since 2007 :)
 
Single down swipe on my Android takes me back to the top. :)
 
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