OK so it's been done before by about a million other people, including the Daddy of Usability Jakob Nielson. However, I thought I'd create my own Top 8 - why Top 8 you ask? Because, I'm an Internet Rebel and I don't conform to your ideals of Top Tens...plus I couldn't think of 10 things to write about.
The points aren't in any kind of priority order, that would just require too much thinking.
8. Not identifying hyperlinks properly.
This issue has been around for ages, but it somehow still exists. Hyperlinks that don't identify themselves as such and require the user to mouse over them to show that they're a link.
I'm not saying all links should be blue and underlined, but they should be differentiated from the rest of the text/content to an extend that I don't have to mouse over them.
I guess this could be one of those areas where design and usability seem to conflict, or more likely, it's because designers are lazy and don't understand the importance of usability.
7. Document links that don't identify themselves as such.
By document links I mean things such as links to PDF or Word documents.
When I click on a link I don't expect Acrobat Reader to suddenly start up. Who even started using PDF's online anyway, weren't they designed for printing?
Anyway, if you really must link to a Word or PDF document, please please designate it as such.
6. Contact links that use mailto: without telling me.
When I see a 'Contact Me' link, I expect it to take me to a contact form, not to open my email application.
5. Login forms which don't allow me to use the 'Enter' key to submit the form.
This annoys me so much, but luckily you don't see it that often.
You type in your login detail and then hit 'Enter' and nothing happens. Instead, you then have to move you hand back the mouse, move it to the login button (which is usually tiny) and click it. OK so maybe it's only a few seconds, but it's 3 seconds I could have spent doing something fun, like eating Jaffa Cakes.
4. Websites which play music automatically.
I can't believe these are still around! It used to be in the form of an embedded QuickTime file at the bottom of the page, but now music is usually incorporated in Flash movies. And you know who the worst offenders for this are? Design studios.
I have no idea why they do it, but I'm guessing they think it makes them look trendy and different from the norm.
The reality is that they're distracting, and remove control from the user. When you're browsing the web, you expect to be in control of the pages you see - what right does a website have to force me to listen to some crappy synthesized music?
3. Bad Flash.
When it's done well, it's very very good. But when it's done bad, it's horrid.
For example a once witnessed a Flash page transition which was lovely and all, but took about 5 seconds to complete.
Now I don't visit websites to spend my time looking at page transitions, I visit them to complete a task or find out some information. Time spent waiting for pages to transition is just time wasted.
2. Sound mouse-overs.
Unsurprisingly, this gem comes from the creators of the 5 second page transitions and if from the same website.
On the main navigation links there were sound mouse-overs, which weren't accompanied by any form of visual mouse-overs. So, if you had your speakers turned off, or were deaf...then there were no mouse-over effects.
Sound mouse-overs which are accompanied by visual mouse-overs are generally just annoying, but without visual mouse-overs, they're a major usability and accessibility problem.
1. Poorly done CSS drop-down menus.
CSS drop-down navigation menus can be really cool, and much better than any form of Javascript or Flash alternative. But in some cases they're kind of finicky, and will close as you're moving your mouse over them. Or, they're just too small and you accidentally move your mouse off them, causing them to close.
In the worst cases, menu items can prove impossible to access, because as soon as you move your mouse towards the desired link, the menu closes each and every time.
