As a web design and development company we see our fair share of bad websites. It’s amazing how many bad websites there are on the internet today. Why? I think for the most part companies and people tend to make it themselves. And although I think that’s a bad idea there are many who think it’s wonderful. Why pay to have your site professionally designed and developed? I mean who cares how your website looks or what your customers think about it right? Well, that’s another story all together.

Today I want to discuss what I consider the TOP 10 Reasons Why I Would Leave a Website.

1. SOUND.

I mean give me a break, why music? Why sound? Think about it. I’m sitting in my cubicle looking to say hire a contractor and out of thin blue air, loud noise…I can’t find the mute button fast enough…better yet my boss walks around the corner and says “is that company policy?” next thing you know. I’m fired. Nice.  I mean that could happen. I bet it has.

2. SLOW LOADING SITES.

Yup, you got it, my time is valuable and waiting for your overly “flash developed” site or very heavy graphics to load is a big no no. Hate it, then if I decide to wait, which is never, what do I get? SOUND. AHHHHH. So a fast loading site is always a good idea.

3. NEVER ENDING CONTENT.

Ok, this really kills me, I mean writing an essay on a page that scrolls for ever is simply not needed, why? Because I won’t read it. I mean don’t get me wrong I’ve seen some long pages with really nicely broken down content with big bold titles to keep it going, but truth be told most sites don’t do this. Do you realize we as humans tend to skim over content? Yup, we read titles, sub titles, and maybe the first sentence, bullets and move on.

4. TYPOS.

Hey, I’m no writer here, I’m a designer, but I mean bad spelling is simply unprofessional. Enough said.

5. 800 X 600 RESOLUTION SITES:

Oh boy, here we go, yes sites that were designed 15 years ago when Windows 95 was awesome and monitors were crap. If your site is pushed over to the left side and looks very narrow, Say hi to 2011! We’ve evolved technology. Design a site that takes advantage of large screen monitors.

6. FLASH.

Ok, I’m not completely against flash, but in most cases sites that are designed in flash…really suck. Not only that but again load time is terrible. Can’t print. Can’t go back, won’t display on my iPhone.(Another story) Makes noise usually. Just wrong, not for everyone by no means. Oh, and the search engines can’t see your content in case you were wondering.

7. OUTDATED.

Oh yes, if you have news and events… Use it. I’m tired of seeing news from 2004 on sites. We’re in 2011 People! Let’s get with it. I always tell my clients if you want to have news and events or a blog you should at least try and post something up at least once a month. Or at the very least once a quarter.  I look at sites like that and think…”hmmm, wonder if these people care about their website or me for that matter?” Some say no news is good news. I say no news =no business.

8. OVERLOADED NAVIGATION.

Ok, let’s not overwhelm our users here. I mean really? 38 items in your navigation means I have 38 choices. I can’t decide between toast or waffles in the morning. This and poor information architecture is very painful. I can’t tell you how many times I have left a site because I was simply lost or confused and PLEASE PUT A ‘HOME” button on the navigation. Not sure who’s bright idea it was to make a “logo” the home button. I really don’t get that, and neither do users.

9. POP UPS.

Ok, I really hate pops ups. I mean a different window opening up. Now some of you may or may not know that Firefox (my favourite browser) has these little things called “add-ons” or plugins. The number 1 addon is the “Pop up Blocker” wonder why? Now I know at times we need to do this, but it can be done in a non intrusive way. Just ask us how.  Otherwise normally when I get to a site and there are pop ups. Yup, you guessed it I leave.

10. BROKEN SITES.

Hey, guess what if you’re still using IE6, I think you need to get OFF the internet all together. And sites that were built for that pathetic browser which was a major cause of a lot viruses on the internet should be simply “put down”. Today we have a slew of modern browsers and we’ve come a long way since those days of the old Netscape and that, and today we have modern operating systems, so your site needs to be coded using industry standard code. CSS, HTML, and now the new HTML5 language which promises to fix a lot of issues. Too many to mention here. BUT the lesson is, fix it or get rid of it and STOP crashing my browser.

Well there you have it, I could keep going but I think I covered my top 10 reasons for leaving websites.

If you would like to know how your site rates up, give us a call at 416-900-0869, Love to hear from you.

I came across an interesting article today that spoke about the possibility of HTML 5 potentially killing the native IOS, Android and RIM native Apps.  Now being an Apple fan myself and truly loving my IOS iPhone4, I have to admit I sometimes wonder why on earth are some apps even on the app store to being with.

I mean I do understand the whole intrigued deal as I have been very much glued to my device as the next person. However, also being a web designer and developer I have also realized that for my clients, the idea of getting an app done and believe me we do get tons of inquiries on a daily basis by people from all walks of life who are in “ga-ga-land” and wanting to build an app for the iPhone, then they throw in.. “and if we can also develop and Android and Blackberry version…that would be great too”.

Wow is all I have to say, now I don’t want to go off here but give me a break, first off, developing for 3 platforms is no easy task and secondly why would you want too? What I’m getting at here is very simple.  Why not build a web app and make accessible to anyone regardless of platform and device as long as it’s equipped with a smart browser.

So, what is a web app?

Quite simply, this is a “mobile website” HTML 5 is truly something remarkable as it’s making its way to all of us.
HTML5 is so-called because it is the fifth generation of Hypertext Markup Language, which is the coding language used to create web pages. By distributing over a web browser via fast, new mobile networks, HTML5 gets to bypass much of a phone’s underlying “iron,� or the chips, graphical cards and other components — all things that native apps rely on. Most phones being sold today have modern browsers that will operate on super fast 4g or LTE networks — the sort of thing that the HTML5 technology needs to thrive. Thus, as HTML5 advances (developers are working hard to improve it), companies will no longer need to build native apps.

It makes no sense to me really why anyone short of “fortune 500″ companies and who have the resources to invest in all 3 platforms. Most of the customers and clients we deal with on a regular basis are small to mid size companies and what they really need to do is take advantage of the existing technology and make web apps. The crazy part is we don’t need to learn any new language or hire a programmer who only understands that platform.

What is the future of Native Apps?

Well, I think needless to say,  it’s lifespan will be shorter than we all think. I mean, sure we’ll see “native apps” be available for download and sure Apple’s empire is strong at the moment and yes the world is in love with the iPad and tablets but I think the real future is on the browser and I hate to admit it here, but I think  Google is right. The browser is very capable of doing a lot. So why can’t we continue to develop our programing into beautiful apps? No reason, we can.

How can Silentblast Help you achieve Cross Platform reach?

Aw, a good question, you see we can develop mobile web apps since developing website is what we do. Website are nothing more than beautiful code doing great things. So we can definitely make you a “mobile web app” and achieve true cross platform reach. The web app is developed once and accessible on all smart devices. Now, on a costing level I’ll let you figure out which way is more cost effective…. But I think you know the answer to that already.  Have questions? Want to know more? No problem, give us a call and let’s get you on mobile devices!

Silentblast Interactive