Meet the MasterMinds: Vincent Flanders on Web Pages That
Suck
 Vincent
Flanders is the creator of the award-winning web site, WebPagesThatSuck.com,
and co-author of the books Web Pages That Suck: Learn
Good Design by Looking at Bad Design and its recent
sequel, Son of Web Pages That Suck. Flanders,
his web site and books have been featured in publications,
on television, radio and the Internet, including Newsweek,
Web World, Ziff-Davis TV, and
PBS. He is an authority on web design and usability, and
provides consulting services for a variety of businesses.
MCNews asked Flanders to enlighten us about
the pitfalls of web design and how consultants can avoid
being featured in his next book.
* * * * *
MCNews: What is it about web site design
that created the need for your books?
Flanders: The short answer is the American
education system. Unfortunately, American schools don't
teach art or aesthetics, so most people don't have a clue
about good design.
The longer answer is that too many designers,
writers, marketing people, and others involved in getting
companies on the web thought the web was the same type of
medium as print or TV. It isn't, and people have had to
learn that this medium has serious limitations--low bandwidth,
incompatibility between browsers, different platforms, etc.--and
they've tried to put a square peg in a round hole.
Another problem has to do with web design
tools. Back in the "old days" we had to hand-code
web sites. Now you've got WYSIWYG
(What You See Is What You Get) tools, which let you create
really bad web sites very quickly with no knowledge of HTML.
Finally, the dirty little secret about the
web is that it isn't really as important as people thought
it was going to be in the way they thought it was going
to be important. We all thought we could throw up content
or sell gizmos and somehow the money would come rolling
in. A lot of people are into the web because it's fun and
cool, but most people in the real world could care less.
The irony is that the money is in the important applications
that we don't see--corporate purchasing, for example.
MCNews: What two or three hints should
give you a clue that your web site sucks?
Flanders: Any time you see the word
"paradigm" or other such MC-type words run, don't
walk, away from the site. MC stands for Marketing Crap,
by the way. The ultimate example of MC is a consultant who
says he's "…a frontiersman. He thrills to spend
his time, his energy, and his intellect in the regions that
form the margins of settled or developed territories…"
Get out the shovels.
Another big clue is splash pages. There is
no need for a site to have a splash, or introductory, page
unless you have to offer your visitors a choice between
multiple languages like they do in Canada or Switzerland.
Splash pages are a huge banner that tells the world that
you like to waste people's time, and they will figure that
means you're going to waste their money too.
If you look at a site's home page and can't
figure out what the site is about, then you've got a site
that sucks like a Kirby vacuum. There are too many home
pages, that even after you have read every word on it, you're
not sure what it's about. One in particular talks about
"content ecosystem" without defining it. What
does that mean?
MCNews: What makes informational/service
(as opposed to sales) sites succeed or fail?
Flanders: The main goal of an information/service
site is, logically enough, to provide information. The
most common mistake consultants make is to talk about how
wonderful/smart/brilliant they are. You can tell people
that your are "a voracious speed reader of 4,600 words
per minute," but so what? People come to your site
for one reason: to solve a problem. They don't care if you're
wonderful and they probably don't care about much of anything
other than "Can you solve my problem now?" You've
got to convince your visitors that you can solve their problems,
so the information you provide should be about that, not
about you.
MCNews: What is "Mystery Meat Navigation"
and how can you overcome it?
Flanders: If you have to mouse over
a graphic to discover whether or not it's a link and where
the link will take you, then you have what I call Mystery
Meat Navigation. It's a popular technique and is totally
acceptable to use on music, band, movie, or game sites,
for example, but totally inappropriate to use elsewhere--like
General Tire.
The best way to overcome it is to not use it. Unfortunately,
clueless bosses and marketing weasels (I'm one so I can
say it) love shiny things and we love this type of junk.
MCNews: How can non-technical people evaluate
and select web designers so they don't end up with a web
page that sucks?
Flanders: Ah, the $64 question. I hear
a lot of horror stories about companies spending tons of
money on web design and being unhappy with the results.
The truth is, I try to avoid answering the question because
it would look like I'm suggesting certain designers, and
that would take away my objectivity. I can only criticize
a site if I didn't design it or recommend the designer who
did. Otherwise, people might think I'm just extorting money
to fix their sites.
MCNews: When you review a site, what is
the most common problem you find?
Flanders: The most common problem
is bad navigation. It's becoming impossible to find
anything on a site without a search engine! On consulting
sites, the biggest problem is the MC mentioned earlier.
MCNews: Any great web sites come to mind?
Flanders: The great web sites have
nothing to do with commerce or information. National
Geographic has a great site. There are lots of band
sites that are great, but you can't use any of their techniques.
My favorites are actually humor sites-- SatireWire,
and The Onion.
MCNews: What do you see for the future
of web design?
Flanders: I think accessibility is
going to be very important. For one thing, sites will need
to provide access to the visually impaired.
I'm sure we'll see some horrible new design
technique come along because that's how it's been in the
past. I'd like to think that web design is going to get
better, but as long as we have multiple browsers and designers
who are interested in looks and not functionality, then
we're doomed to more of the same.
MCNews: What's on your reading list now?
Flanders: Actually, I'm so functional
it's insane. I just bought a book on Making Music Videos
with Adobe Premiere. Digital is really the future.
MCNews: Thanks. We needed that!
* * * * *
Visit Vincent Flanders at www.WebPagesThatSuck.com
to find out more about his books and services, or write
to him at vincent9@gte.net.
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