An hour of No No’s

I was Googl’ing this morning – quite busy, actually searching for information – and came across the deadly web No No’s. It was a little surprising. I thought the No No’s were eradicated, but apparently they still afflict several existing websites that are fully operational and functioning. Its been listed before, and said a million times, but I will once again return to this list so there is no confusion … and hopefully those No No propagators read this and turn from their evil ways.

No No #1: NO Flash Intros

Don’t do it. They were once clever. New. Interesting. Now they are an impediment to your information. Weird. Clunky. Horrible for your SEO. There is literally NO content on a main page dedicated to the intro. And even if you skip this, and bypass to a pop-up intro, it is still remarkably dated. Exceptions? Sure. If you’re questioning it, you’re probably not the exception

and the other No No’s…

NO blinking text, weird cursors with trails, goofy fonts, or other silly games.

NO broken links off your primary navigation bar. NO BROKEN LINKS EVER, but certainly not off your main menu.

NO under construction. I’m seeing it, so it’s constructed. Pop some content on there ASAP. Generic content is better than no content, and any content is better than under construction. Please, web designers, explain this to your clients.

NO design flaws that create complications for navigating your site or accessing your site’s content. Navigation panes that only are visible on mouseover? Is this really the best idea? We need to design sites as if we were visiting them.

NO missing your call to action completely. If you’re a community site, include community information and restate your particular community. If you’re in product sales, how do I purchase the product?

Just as a general rule, proofread.