On today's show you'll see what you can learn from bad Web design, namely what not to do with your webpages. These insights can also be found on my website Web Pages That Suck and book Son of Web Pages That Suck.

1. Splash pages are bad because they get in the way of the sale or the information.
   There are some sites where splash pages are OK to use. The old Dian Fossey site had a great splash page. Take a look at an archived version of it.
   
   But on most sites, it's bad to use splash pages because they get in the way of the information.
   
   
   • Example: One of the sites from the book, FAMU -- Florida A&M University -- has two splash pages: http://www.famu.edu/
   
   
   
2. Design your site to meet people's expectations.
   Websites, for the most part, reflect the real world. For instance, in the real world, people expect a girl's back and front to match. People don't expect this sort of experience.
   
   However, when people visit an entertainment site -- say, a rock and roll band site -- they expect to see lots of graphics, sound, Flash animation, and what I call Mystery Meat Navigation. They expect to be entertained. That's why the last time I was on the show, I pointed out how Ozzy Osbourne's Flash-filled site was fine.
   
   On the other hand, nobody goes to an insurance site for the entertainment value. Can you imagine what an insurance company would look like if it used the Ozzy approach?
   
   
   • Example: Ozzy insurance
   
   
   
3. Not only do you have to meet your visitors’ expectations, you have to meet their needs.
   One of these needs is “Need to Know.” There are some things your visitors don't really need to know. If I were a dentist and had website, there are some things I shouldn't put on because you don't need to know them.
   
   
   • Example: Too much information

More bad sites we'll look at

• www.qualcomm.com
• One Hour Photo site
• bawls.com
• Showtime vs. Canadians
• fragments.com

More links

• Two minute offense -- match wits with the "wit of usability."
  
• You think it sucks -- more examples of bad design.
  
• Daily sucker -- what's new in bad design

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Want to know more? You can buy Flanders' books on Amazon.com:

"Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design"

"Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design"