Brill Publications

At first I thought Brill Publications had a fun interactive website, but it turned out to be confusing and difficult to navigate. First of all it is not immediately obvious what Brill Publications sells or offers. It seems to be for writers of some kind, but it was not until I explored for quite a few minutes did I realize that they sell products that people would actually buy such as merchandise with fun quotes or sayings on them.

You can tell they really wanted an interactive and unique experience, but you can't appreciate their creativity if you can't actually navigate the site. The user has to take "elevator" rides to different floors with different activities. The gift shoppe and My story floors seem to be selling the products. It isn't obvious what is clickable, and there is annoying background noise like you are in a crowded room. Also, you can't just quickly get to a floor, you have to ride the elevators. Even the quick start lift option seems to take you to different floors. Many of the floors are also "under construction" and non functional. The top floor just plays music, like the user is sitting on a roof top garden. I wasn't sure what the point of this floor was.

It also seems to offer writing contests and an online publication...but they would probably get a lot more business with a website that showed the products up front.

It would be fine to have such an interactive site as an option along with a more straightforward one. But the website really doesn't match the products they are selling...there seems to be no reason for "flash happy site".

Small-Town Website

The Village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, leaves nothing to be desired when it comes to aesthetics. Quaint little shops, a picturesque waterfall, and historical homes are all part of the town. The town's website, however, is another story.

The organization of the site is OK: links on the side, navigation at the top, other information dispersed throughout. But by exploring just the home page a little further, a few quirks are revealed. First, the navigation at the top uses those pesky drop down boxes. But for some reason, not all of the categories have them. The cursor also does not turn into the little helpful hand when on a link, so the only way you know you can click is because the words move slightly to the side.

The typography changes throughout the site, with some of the links bold and sans-serif, and others regular font and serif. The home page also has important information below the scroll, where most people will probably never discover it.

There are several other problems that I find on the site, but one glaring mistake takes the cake: The random, growing and shrinking snowflake on the right side of the home page. Perhaps they wanted to make it clear that all pages are indeed "special" in their own way.

I expected more from Microsoft

While browsing webpagesthatsuck.com to find a bad Web site to discuss, I was surprised to see that Microsoft was listed as having the second worst site of 2007. Of course, that list is pretty dated and when I went to the site it was clear that they fixed the issues of horrible color contrast that landed them at the number two spot back then. However, considering that they are a multi-billion-dollar computer technology corporation, their Web site is still nowhere near where it should be.

First of all, the navigation is incredibly annoying. The Web site is huge, and every page of it is listed on the boxes that drop down when you hover over the links at the top of the homepage. Not only is this really visually unappealing, but it’s inconvenient to have to avoid hovering over the links if you don’t want the entire page taken over by those boxes. Also, it doesn’t seem very well organized to me. Too much information is dropping down in these boxes to make it easy to navigate.

The next gripe I have about Microsoft’s Web site is that every single section of it is designed completely differently. It looks like a different person designed each page. This makes the navigation really inconsistent and every time you visit another page you have to try to figure it out again. Also, many of the pages don’t include links back to the homepage. Web sites like Apple, on the other hand, keep the style consistent of every section of the site, and they keep the exact same navigation bar at the top of the page to avoid confusion.

Overall, although Microsoft’s Web site by no means completely jumps out as a horrible Web site, it does fall victim to some subtle yet annoying navigational and style issues. While I feel that some smaller businesses are allowed a little leniency when it comes to Web design, Microsoft really has no excuse.

[The text didn't show up for some reason in the post below so this is my second attempt]

Good Venue, Crappy Web Site

Mac's Bar is one of the best places in Lansing to watch a band, especially if you're into smoky, divey watering holes with poor acoustics, stellar bathroom stall literature and cheap drinks. However none of that comes across from the bar's Web site.

While the site is serviceable in that it contains the critical elements a viewer would search for — directions, hours of operation, contact number, entertainment calendar — some of its elements are lacking and it is missing an opportunity to convey through its design what makes the bar unique.

The problems began for me on the home page, organized into three main columns, the third of which is blank. Why not highlight some significant, upcoming shows in this spot? 

This home page announces, above the navigation bar, "Shoot your own music videos at Macs," but doesn't offer a link to more instructions. Seems kind of random. Makes me wonder if they're open for Bar Mitzvahs as well.

Below the navigation bar is another non-link ordering the viewer to "stay tuned." For what? I don't know.

The navigation bar itself works pretty well in that its color turns from red (with a white drop shadow) on black, to white (with a red drop shadow) on black when activated. However the first would-be link, "History," is dead. Maybe viewers are supposed to stay tuned for the venue to create and document its history?

The link that is most relevant to me when I visit is "Calendar," which leads the viewer to a separate page featuring a list of shows. This is problematic in a few ways: First, I have a 12-inch screen, and have to scroll to the right to view the pictures of the bands who are playing; secondly, the font is too large, which allows only two shows to be displayed on my screen. I have to scroll down constantly; thirdly, many of the headlining band links either send the viewer back to the calendar page he or she is in, or send the viewer to Mac's Bar's MySpace page, which is no better than its Web site.

The "Booking" page opens the viewer's default e-mail software to send an email to the venue. This was annoying because my default email software is no longer current and I had to close out of a few windows. Why not just provide an email address within a separate page to either click on, or to copy and paste. Then they could provide some general guidelines for booking shows as well. For instance, how early do they book shows, who is in charge, what kinds of bands play there, etc.?

The "Directions" page sends viewers to a Google Maps page in a separate window. It would be better to import this map into the site.

The "Gallery" page has potential. The photo viewer seems to work pretty well, but the venue only has six photos up. One would think the venue just opened. Who knows. It has no history.

— Andrew Norman