So where was I when I was so rudely interrupted by technical gremlins? Oh yes, I was commenting on the pet peeves study. Here are my thoughts on the last seven items:
Music or other audio that plays automatically – this doesn’t bother me personally, because my speakers stay turned off until such time as I want to hear something. I do this not so much because of web site audio, but so I don’t have to hear all the audio responses of the various programs I use. (Yes, I know I can turn off the sounds by setting the options of each individual program, but it’s so much easier to just keep the speakers “off.â€) The bottom line is that I prefer web sites that give me the option to proceed with or without sound, or even better, to click on a link if I want to hear something, be it a single clip or streaming audio.
Inability to use the browser’s “back†button – this makes me mad. If I choose my browser for the features it provides, no web site should invalidate those features, particularly something as basic as moving forward and backward between web pages I’ve just visited.
Ineffective site search tool – If you do any kind of research, search tools are invaluable. I believe that sites with a lot of content, be they static or ever changing and growing blogs, should provide a search tool specific to that site. On this blog, for example, you can search for Luther Henderson and see a listing of only those posts in which his name appears.
Overdone sites with unnecessary splash/flash screens or animation – Know your audience! For me, “unnecessary†says it all, but I guess if your target audience is young and lots of movement, fast cuts, short takes etc are in vogue, then perhaps it is necessary. Still, I prefer to be inclusive, so I recommend giving visitors a choice right from the beginning.
Text that moves – Annoying! Perhaps with an exception for small changing messages, news flashes and such. It is effective to getting the viewers attention, but the message should be quick.
Opening a new window for a link – I never thought that viewers would find this annoying. You may have noticed that all the links in my blog open into a separate browser window. That is deliberate on my part so that you can check out the link without loosing your place in my blog. It’s true that with newer browsers, the ones that support tabs (i.e. separate pages inside a single browser window with tabs across that allow you to move between web pages), the person viewing can choose whether to view a link in a separate tab. However, of all the people I know, only the real techies take advantage of this option.
Poor appearance due to colors, fonts, format – these things are, for the most part, in the eye of the beholder. Still, certain there are some basic design principles that should be considered, first and foremost that the text be legible with sufficient contrast between text and background. The combination of text color and background color should also be easy on the eyes. Text size used to be an issue, but no longer as most new browsers allow users to increase and decrease text size to suit their own preferences. But again, it all goes back to knowing your audience.
There was a period (mid 1990s) when I was really up on these things. Back then I wrote a whole bunch of computer trade books, including Build A Web Site: The Programmer’s Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining a Web Presence, but I have not stayed current. Hopefully, some of my web savvy friends will chime in on this topic and I can post their emails.