BIG BUSINESS WEB DESIGN DISASTERS

BIG BUSINESS WEB DESIGN DISASTERS
BY: JOEL WALSH
when you think of the world's most successful
businesses, what names come to mind? most
LIKELY, CONSUMER-ORIENTED GIANTS SUCH AS
coca-cola, mcdonald's, sheraton, disney, ibm,
and general electric. not only have they spent
BILLIONS ON ADVERTISING TO BUY THEIR WAY INTO
your head. they offer convenient products and
services that have made them a part of your
LIFE.

but when you think of the most successful web
SITES, WHAT NAMES COME TO MIND? NAMES LIKE
google, yahoo! amazon, aol, kazaa (for better or
worse), and hotmail.

the late-1990s mantra about the web being a
disruptive technology that would destroy
TRADITIONAL COMPANIES MAY HAVE BEEN OVERSTATED.
but a decade and a half into the web's
existence, it is clear that the world's leading
CORPORATIONS HAVE BEEN SIDELINED ON THE WEB.

the biggest shopping site is not walmart.com but
AMAZON.COM. THE BIGGEST MAP SITE IS NOT
randmcnally.com but mapquest.com.

ESTABLISHED COMPANIES HAVE USUALLY ONLY BEEN
able to buy their way into this market through
acquisitions (as with microsoft's purchase of
HOTMAIL, WHICH IT USED AS A BASE FOR CREATING
msn).

WHY, WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, WERE THE WORLD'S MOST
successful web sites not launched by the world's
most successful corporations?

many big name companies' web sites a vast waste
of time for visitors

the mcdonald's web site talks about food, but
has no real menu. the coca-cola usa web site has
NO CLEAR INGREDIENTS LIST OR NUTRITIONAL
information, no recipes for floats or mixed
drinks, no company history, and nothing else
USEFUL TO PEOPLE WHO LIKE COKE. ALL THAT
information has been inexplicably located on the
"company" page, which on every other web site is
USED FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS. THE JOHNSON AND
johnson web site has useful information if you
can access it--when the author attempted to open
IT, IT CRASHED TWO DIFFERENT WEB BROWSERS
(internet explorer and mozilla) before finally
yielding (to the opera browser).

many big-name companies' web sites offer lessons
in what not to do in web design. the biggest
LESSON BY FAR IS NOT TO SACRIFICE USABILITY IN
an attempt to look cool, and never forget why
your users came to your site in the first place.
MCDONALD'S MAY BE THE WORLD'S LARGEST RESTAURANT
chain, but it didn't get that way because of its
web site.

why big-budget websites are more often bombs
than blockbusters

the web sites of many successful corporations
(both b2c and b2b) are like big-budget hollywood
MOVIES THAT SPEND MILLIONS ON STARS AND SPECIAL
effects, and a quarter of a percent of the
budget on the script. worse, the special effects
OF BLOCKBUSTER WEB SITES ARE FAR MORE ANNOYING
than impressive.

SPECIAL EFFECT THAT BOMBS NUMBER 1: FLASH!

when web sites don't offer any content--any
USEFUL INFORMATION TO READ--WHAT DO THEY PUT UP
there instead? spinning coke bottles. chicken
mcnuggets and french fries that zoom out toward
YOU WHEN YOU POSITION YOUR CURSOR OVER THEM.
changing pictures of generic-looking office
buildings and men in suits (on the web site of
REAL ESTATE GIANT CB RICHARD ELLIS--BUT THAT
essentially describes the generic look of many
corporate web sites).

of course, flash can be used as a way to present
content--words, both printed and recorded, and
PICTURES THAT ACTUALLY ILLUSTRATE SOMETHING. BUT
more often, it is used to impress. and most
often, it ends up annoying. who wants to spend
THE BETTER PART OF A MINUTE WAITING FOR A
rotation of generic pictures of smiling models?

SPECIAL EFFECT THAT BOMBS NUMBER 2: SPLASH
screens

YOU TYPE IN DURACELL.COM EXPECTING INFORMATION
on batteries--which you will find, if you have
the patience not to hit the "back" button while
THE SITE SHOWS A PICTURE OF A BATTERY REVOLVING
painfully slowly.

ON HTTP://WWW.MCDONALDS.COM YOU'RE MET WITH
pictures of happy children playing with ronald
mcdonald and a menu to select what country
YOU'RE FROM.

johnson's and johnson's web site shows a logo
BEFORE AUTOMATICALLY REDIRECTING YOU TO THE MAIN
page--that is if it doesn't crash your browser
first (which happened when the author tried to
ACCESS THE PAGE ON MAY 2, 2004 ).

another way big consumer corporations' web sites
FROM SCHICK TO MERCEDES-BENZ TO THOMAS COOKE
waste your time with splash pages is by making
you choose what country you're visiting from.
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN DETECTED AUTOMATICALLY, OR
at least, useful worldwide content could have
been placed on the homepage, with an option to
CHOOSE A COUNTRY PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED.

splash pages are the internet equivalent of
MAKING PATRONS WAIT IN LINE OUT FRONT BEFORE
letting them inside. unless a site belongs to a
night club or a professional services firm with
TOO MUCH BUSINESS, KEEPING PEOPLE OUTSIDE CAN'T
be a good idea.

SPECIAL EFFECT THAT BOMBS NUMBER 3: OVERBUILT OR
badly built "dynamic" functionality

EVERY WEB SURFER HAS A STORY ABOUT A SHOPPING
cart that malfunctioned just when they were
about to click "purchase" on something they
REALLY WANTED. OR A DETAILED FORM THAT LOST ALL
the information after the "submit" button was
pressed.

sometimes, malfunctioning dynamic content can
distort the way an entire site presents itself.
IF THE DYNAMIC CONTENT IS SO COMPLEX THAT IT
presents problems for many users, it is unlikely
the dynamic content is worth it. when i visited
DISNEY.COM IN MAY 2004, MY FIRST GREETING WAS A
message that your computer is sufficiently
up-to-date (or not) to handle the site.

in short, you may want your small or
medium-sized business to get as big as coca cola
OR DISNEY, BUT YOU'LL NEVER GET THERE IF YOUR
website looks like theirs do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
[formatting: for web, please use "website
content writer" as the link's anchor text
(VISIBLE LINK TEXT)] JOEL WALSH'S BUSINESS,
upmarket content, lets him partner with web
designers and other creative people, as a
WEBSITE CONTENT WRITER:
http://upmarketcontent.com [2]

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