1.3 And a few more websites for the week

A couple more websites were assigned for review during week one, and they actually both yielded some exciting finds elsewhere on the web. First of all, Websites That Suck is an aptly named site that seeks to teach quality web design by exposing people to the REALLY awful stuff that is out there. Truly, it is amazing how tacky people become when they are confronted with flashing, bobbing, swirling, rotating graphic possibilities. Seriously, just because you can animate something and add twenty colors, it doesn’t mean you should. One of the terrific resources available at Websites That Suck is the checklist of fatal web mistakes—make any one and the site is a flop—and the checklist of potentially fatal mistakes which, when made en masse, also spell the end. I have to say, though, I disagree with these items from the latter list:

•  Our site doesn't use white or off-white color for background
•  Our site doesn't use black text
•  Our site uses graphics as links

Seriously, if every website was some variation of white with black text the web would be a personality-free place. Also, I really feel that linked graphics are appropriate as long it is clear what will be at the other end—think about cropped thumbnails that open image pages. Do you really want to click a text link called “John in Studio” rather than a cropped version of that picture? I don’t think so.
Beyond that, Websites That Suck is an all right page. It is certainly not pretty, but it does the functional job of showcasing the egregious designs out there. I believe it is meant to showcase some poor design choices itself, but honestly, it can’t even come close to the bad design it features on external sites. Given that, I would rather see a beautiful, sleek design dedicated to displaying the horrors out there. The juxtaposition of good and bad would make the point stronger

Check it out here:
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com

Speaking of bad design choices, the real treasure that emerged from Websites That Suck was the George’s Township Civil Defense EMS website. It was the “daily sucker” today and it actually hurts to look at it. In fact, I am still blinking trying to make sure that what I see is real. They have literally tiled a crummy picture of an ambulance next to a dingy building as the background. Also, midway down the page it reads, Fayette_County_Ambulance_Service, and those underscores are not mine. There are no additional pages beyond the index, which is unheard of (it is the web and that kind of indicates stuff is linked to additional pages within a site). All the external links are broken as well. Now, granted, this site is so bad it might actually be a hoax; I could see someone creating a site just to make it onto Websites That Suck in the same way people without talent try out for American Idol. Fifteen minutes of fame is fifteen minutes of fame—no one said it had to be positive.

Check it out here (or don’t):
http://www.georgestwpems.org/

To offset the visual assault I took a look at FWA (Favourite Website Awards). This website is neatly designed, and I guess they do believe that black and white is right, because they seem to have followed that white background/black text rule from the “potentially fatal” checklist detailed above. That said, the use of neutrals, namely black, white, and dark gray, is extremely effective here. Everything, down to the custom Twitter and Facebook buttons, falls into this color scheme. The effect is a clean space to showcase the real contents of the website, which are details from external sites judged to be examples of good design and/or innovative content. In fact, this website is actually beautiful (almost Zen) in its simplicity because nothing competes.

Check it out here:
http://www.thefwa.com/

Of course, with a website devoted to showcasing other effective websites there was bound to be a more intriguing find.  Sure enough, the exciting element of the session was an external website from the Vitra Design Museum called Hidden Heroes. This website is beautiful and functional, although it breaks many of the rules of classic good design. In fact, some people with short tempers might get frustrated with the site before ever seeing the contents; if you click around a little, however, it is easy to figure out and well worth the effort. The only downside here is the gratuitous use of sound effects when you scroll over elements. The sounds can be turned off at the bottom of the page, but it would have been better if the audio was as subtle as the timeline or gallery text. An audible whisper would have been lovely; as it exists now the sounds are gimmicky and just plain garish.

The site itself is a companion to a traveling exhibition of everyday products that are so ingrained in our lives as to be invisible. Everyday heroes of great industrial design like Scotch Tape and Post-it Notes are the features. The site itself contains photos, trivia, background, and interactive graphics that accompany each product. The unique element is that you can design your own exhibit.

The index page has a central strip of color bars surrounding a box with the exhibition title. Scrolling over the bars yields an object name and thumbnail in the title box; clicking a bar adds it to your custom tour. Once done, you click “enter exhibition” for a personalized gallery of objects. The navigational elements are hidden behind tabs at the sides of the page, which is supposedly a design problem. In this case, however, it keeps those elements from cluttering the sleek bar of text that opens to pages about the objects. Sure, some people might be a little confused at the navigational structure; some people might not understand that grabbing the object bar and pulling it to the side will expand it; some people might miss the subtle gray “gallery” text. But all these elements make the page unique and beautiful. It is in itself designed to be a work of art, and art does not have to play by the rules. Besides, anyone that can’t spend a few minutes wrapping their mind around a slightly new navigation structure probably won’t care about the fact that art is supposed to push boundaries. No big deal. The rest of us can revel in the fantastic concept.

Check it out here:
http://www.hidden-heroes.net/