01. Pop-up ads : Users hate them. With a declining ad rate, we strongly advise against thier use.
02. Mandatory Registration and Login : Users dislike them. On blogs, wikis, and discussion boards we suggest registration with
just a username and email address. We strongly advise against requiring users to register and login before seeing content.
03. Extra Software Requirement : We strongly advise against requiring users to install extra software to see the site, including Flash plugin.
If possible, avoid flash.
04. Slow Loading Pages : Users dislike slow loading pages. Hosting is a commodity and more than half the users in the US have broadband, they are
getting used to fast loading pages.
05. 404 Not Found : Link validation should be an integral part of the testing before launch. Users hate seeing a 404 page in your site
or a link from your page to an external site.
06. Confusing Navigation : All information on your site should be easily reachable via 2 or 3 clicks or a simple search. Users will
simply abandon your site if they find it hard to find content or are required too many clicks to reach that content.
07. Stale Content : Users like fresh content - updated daily or multiple times a day. Users lose confidence if the last update
is months old. Even a small detail as the copyright year is important.
08. Missing Contact Information : Users want to see contact information including a physical address, a phone number and email addresses.
Users dislike web email only forms which don't show the recepient address since they have very less faith in these cgi/PHP forms.
09. Automatic Music/Audio Play : Users browse sites at work or with their iTunes running and dislike sites which play music or
other audio automatically. If you have to play music for animation, let the viewer affirmatively start it him/herself.
10. Hiding the Back Button : Users dislike your site if you change browser settings to disable the back button or resize the browser.
Trapping users by hiding the back button will ensure that most users come to your site only one time.
11. Ineffective Site Search Tool : Users have been conditioned to seeing a seach box at the top of pages. If that search box is missing or
returns too many "No Pages Found" for simple phrases, then users lose confidence in your site.
12. Overdone Sites : Users dislike unneccesaary splash/flash screen. If you must use a splash screen, provide a Skip Intro button to let
users reach true content that they came for.
13. Moving Text : Users dislike text that moves when they scroll a webpage. We advise against including DHTML navigation that
scrolls down with the user. Most computers come with wheel-mouse and users can easily scroll back.
14. New Windows : Users dislike when links open new windows. Opening a new window for external links so that the user "stays" on yuor website
is not advised.
15. Poor Appearance : Users dislike your site if the colors and fonts are not web-safe. Proper usability testing should catch
these errors.
If you have any more questions : Ask the eConsultant
Hire eConsultant for a project. Resume available here.
Hire eConsultant for a project. Resume available here.