Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005

Well-known usability specialist Jakob Nielsen asked the readers of his Alertbox newsletter to nominate the usability problems that irked them most.

On the list are:

• Legibility Problems
• Non-Standard Links
• Flash
• Content That's Not Written for the Web
• Bad Search
• Browser Incompatibility
• Cumbersome Forms
• No Contact Information or Other Company Info
• Frozen Layouts with Fixed Page Widths
• Inadequate Photo Enlargement

Nielsen concludes:

"(...) users don't care about technology and don't especially want new features. They just want quality improvements in the basics: text they can read; content that answers their questions;
navigation and search that help them find what they want; short and simple forms (streamlined registration, checkout, and other workflow); and no bugs, typos, or corrupted data; no linkrot; no outdated content. "

"Anytime you feel tempted to add a new feature or advanced technology to your site, first consider whether you would get a higher ROI by spending the resources on polishing the quality of what you already have. Most companies, e-commerce sites, government agencies, and non-profit organizations would contribute more to their website's business goals with better headlines than with any new technology (aside from a better search engine, of course)."