As a web development agency, we know what makes a website shine. Readability, the tone of content, accessibility, the frugal usage of screen space and structure are all essential aspects of website development, yet many web designers and clients frequently forget this. There are a plethora of badly Designed websites on the internet for your perusal, but here’s a few that will offend the senses of any website designer.

Space Jam

Dug up like a prehistoric artefact, the Space Jam website was designed in 1996 to promote the eponymous film. While the website would have looked impressive 21 years ago, web design has caught up by leaps and bounds since. Built long before the advent of Web 2.0, the website is difficult to navigate, littered with difficult-to-read text that blends with the backgrounds and looks extremely static. Unless you’re really interested in Michael Jordan’s film career or want to gawk at 90s web design, there’s no need to see this.

Ling’s Cars

‘Dazzling’, ‘Gaudy’ and ‘Tasteless’ cannot even begin to describe how offensive this website is to a website designer. While not badly designed technically, it’s a good example of how cluttering up your website’s screen space makes it extremely hard to navigate. The sidebar extends way past the page footer, as there’s no method to expand or contract a specific part of it. The website automatically plays a video – with sound – when you reach the home page, which is usually reserved for annoying and performance-draining ads.

The sheer gaudiness can be appealing in an ironic way, but it’s hard to see any details when the website is so cluttered and confusing.

Penny Juice

Another relic of early website design but without Space Jam’s sole comfort of being designed by decent artists and web designers, Penny Juice commits the same sins as the Space Jam website, only worse. The cardinal sin of Comic Sans litters the home page alongside what appears to be a child’s drawing, which would be cute if the rest of the website looked any better. A lack of contrasting colours abounds with hard-to-read serif fonts making up the vast majority of the text.

Many of the testimonials and parts of text are written solely in upper case, which gives the impression that the testimonials were given by shouting through the phone. Even by the standards of early website design, Penny Juice is utterly ridiculous.

Suzanne Collins Books

It’s surprising that such a famous author would have this site be their official Internet presence. Writer of the medium-spanning Hunger Games franchise, Suzanne Collins Books isn’t too hard on the eyes but seems to be built for a completely different screen aspect ratio to the norm. Off-centre or squashed text is all over the place, as well as pictures splattered in a disjointed manner all over the screen. One black serif font is used throughout over a blank canvas of white: it’s pretty much the opposite of Ling’s Cars when it comes to website design.

It’s hard to tell when this website was designed, but it certainly looks like it’s 15 years old and desperately in need of a redesign. We volunteer as tribute!

Ian McKellen (Official Home Page)

Another site focused around a famous personality, the official website of Sir Ian McKellen seems to have been built circa 1997, and has hardly changed in design since despite still being updated with new content. Seemingly built for a 4:3 monitor common at the time, the page elements and text are way too large to read and use comfortably.

If you want to read the musings of the definitive Gandalf and Magneto impersonator, he has a blog page here as a silver lining to this cumbersome website.

4 of these 5 websites are only guilty of the crime of being old, never getting the facelift they needed to meet the modern digital age. There are many websites that have sat, unchanged, for years and drive away traffic that would have stayed if their websites weren’t eyesores. A simple solution is hiring a company (like us) to get your website looking professional and impressive. Take a look at our work here and see how we can revive your online presence in a cost-efficient and timely manner.

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