Fugly Friday: The World's Worst Website?
Unfortunately the stout folks at Guinness don't have a "World's Worst Website" category (best I could find was the worst mouse plague, which I assume happens frequently in schools). Fear not, as one intrepid designer has endeavored to show by way of example; I give you the "World's Worst Website," and oh boy, does it deliver.
Pretty much every web design sin in the book is covered, from hosting with Angelfire, to using frames, marquee text, blinking backgrounds, misspellings, links to dead-end pages and much, much more. Try turning your sound all the way up before visiting, then run.
This appears to be created by Michelle from Gold Nugget Webs, a site that isn't exactly fugly, but isn't going to win any awards, either. In fact, it appears Michelle has a thing for understated design, opting to choose aliased text, pixelated JPEG's and CAPS LOCK. To be fair, I get the feeling her clients aren't the most web-savvy or design-savvy bunch (do you know of an opal mine that Starck designed?), so what you see could be at the client's request. And I've certainly had the experience of a client demanding something that made you want to retch. Still, as a monument to fugliness, Michelle's "Worst Website" is easily in the top 10.
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsKeegdnaBMar 20th 2009 4:41PM
I saw the headline and thought it was gonna be a poll....and that there would be 300 replies saying 4chan
though to be honest...the "world's worst website" deosn't seem all that different
dsMar 20th 2009 4:44PM
This one's good from a technical standpoint, but it comes in second to one I found randomly a few months ago.
Sort of NSFW, poorly rendered GIFs ahoy!
http://www.ingenfeld.de/
Maybe there's a story behind this one, but I don't think there's any possible explanation. It's basically Homer Simpson's website, but less restrained.
tingrin87Mar 22nd 2009 3:18AM
firefox kind of said NO to that one
cobakMar 20th 2009 5:01PM
That looks way better than most myspace pages...
hectorvsMar 20th 2009 5:39PM
To be honest, one of the worst page designs must be http://www.frys.com/
It is SOOOO 1999, horrible search, horrible design... I don't know what they're waiting for to update their website with something more up to date.
Steve GMar 20th 2009 5:51PM
For some years, the home of truly bad websites has been
http://www.websitesthatsuck.com/
Their aim is for people to learn from seeing how NOT to do it and their are some truly dreadful examples.
Steve GMar 20th 2009 5:52PM
PS Sorry - should be 'there' not 'their'!
ih8myspaceMar 25th 2009 7:54PM
I've seen much worse than that, like the ingenfeld site for example. Although neither should count since they are both obviously INTENDED to be bad.
gyluMar 20th 2009 8:59PM
It may cover the sins but if you want to see them in action in the wild just look at any cat breading website.
johnMar 21st 2009 5:32PM
Breaded cats? Well I guess that makes sense if you're going to deep fry them. I prefer mine sashimi style.
lennyMar 22nd 2009 4:55PM
While we're on the subject of annoying website "features": what I hate
are those AOL articles that grab you with a catchy headline, & then
make you click through anywhere from 5-20+ pages as they present the
article in dribs & drabs.
OtafuMar 23rd 2009 4:28PM
The worst has to be www.misterglobo.com.ar
no kidding.
BirdApr 23rd 2009 10:39PM
If we're talking Worst Website based on expectations, I'd give a nod to Adobe. Year after year, the company that holds the monopoly on print and website-building software has a slow, heavy and virtually useless website. I'm using a MAC PRO, a high-speed Tokyo cable connection and every other site is lightning fast, and right now, Adobe.com is timing-out on many pages, including their contact page.
I would understand if there were a momentary glitch, but this is Adobe, year after year after year...