Websites of the Damned
So, I have this Star Wars poster.
Don't hate
Recently I've decided I need more artwork-type things on my walls, to make it look more like someone lives there (and has in fact lived there for twelve-plus years). And so, I've decided to have my poster framed.
After looking at a few options, I've decided to go with that old traditional stand-by pf having it shrink-wrapped onto a half-inch cardboard back with a thin dark border around it. So the next step was to find a suitable place in Toronto that could do this for me.
And then the horror began.
I am always flabbergasted when I come across "corporate" websites that are not just unprofessional, but eye-searingly bad. Corporate is in quotes there because I realize that many of these companies are mom-and-pop sort of operations; but these are still companies that are putting themselves out on the web, and for a lot of people (like, me, in this very instance) it is their first impression of the company.
The first company I tried was Mount n' Seal. Not only is it an ugly website, it's also unhelpful and not intuitive to navigate. Also, multiple clicks are required before you actually get anywhere.
The main page looks like this:
Get it? GET IT??
First off, hooray that somebody's fifteen-year-old niece is handy with HTML and/or some sort of computer drawing program. Man, I hate websites where the first page is "Look at our neat graphic. No, you're still not at even the most basic information about our services or products. You still have some clicking to do before you get to see that".
Clicking through that awesome splash page brings you to this:
I'm sorry
You need to appreciate how that looks on my 24" widescreen monitor. Picture an entire sea of that very bright pink, with that graphic up in the top left corner of the screen. It actually hurts your eye to look at.
Aside from the ow-my-eyes-my-eyes factor, there is the functionality of this page to consider. Remember that I'm looking to get my poster shrink-wrapped (to have it mounted and sealed, as it were). Where should I click on that page? The "How It's Made!" icon there is not clickable; it's simply part of the graphic. Clicking on the address gets you a map. clicking on "Much, much more" brings you to a page which bears the title "SHRINKWRAP HALL OF FAME - Some items we have immortalized in plastic!", and then lists said items (ending with "And much, much more!", perhaps leading to some weird Inception-like recursive website hell). Nope, it turns out the correct thing to click on is "FAQ", which actually tells you how much it will cost to mount and seal something based on the dimensions.
♣ ♣ ♣
The site annoyed me so much, that I backed up to my Google search results page, and went with the second choice down the list, Poster Seal.
Dear God
If you're feeling brave, click on that image for the larger view, or visit their website. The reason you can't read what it says right under the main image is that it's an animated GIF of rotating text. The page (the whole site) screams "GeoCities", and it's actually not that far removed (the web address is interlog.com/~poster). clicking through takes you to similarly laid-out page with three animated GIFs, and a set-up that expects you have one specific screen size. I don't know what that screen size is, but it wasn't mine: images were floating above the text, obscuring what the page had to tell me.
At the bottom of that page, however, is an icon with the caption "Website by Lawrence", so at least you know who to blame. If you clicked on that link (fool!), you may note that Lawrence's splash page is actually a branch of Poster Seal's site, so maybe it's just another quality service they offer. You may also note that on a single page, Lawrence has used five different font colours, two different font faces, several animated GIFs and a background that distracts from reading the text.
♣ ♣ ♣
A apologize if I coming off as elitist. I realize that I am being overly harsh on people who have clearly not put a lot of money into their websites. But that's kind of my point: these are companies that are trying to get my business, and they are not putting their best foot forward to make that good first impression. They aren't even putting their second-best or somewhat-weak-third leg forward.
SPEND THE MONEY ON YOUR WEBSITE. Neither of these websites come off as professional at all to me. I picture a guy (or the aforementioned fifteen-year-old niece) slapping their flipper-like appendages on the keyboard while giggling and shouting "HORAYY FOR INTERNETS!" This might be acceptable to people getting one-off posters done, like myself (I'll probably end up going with Poster Seal if they actually will do free pick-up and delivery), but if I was ordering things for my company? Hell, no. I could not go before my boss and say "This is the company I've decided to go with".
Don't hate
Recently I've decided I need more artwork-type things on my walls, to make it look more like someone lives there (and has in fact lived there for twelve-plus years). And so, I've decided to have my poster framed.
After looking at a few options, I've decided to go with that old traditional stand-by pf having it shrink-wrapped onto a half-inch cardboard back with a thin dark border around it. So the next step was to find a suitable place in Toronto that could do this for me.
And then the horror began.
I am always flabbergasted when I come across "corporate" websites that are not just unprofessional, but eye-searingly bad. Corporate is in quotes there because I realize that many of these companies are mom-and-pop sort of operations; but these are still companies that are putting themselves out on the web, and for a lot of people (like, me, in this very instance) it is their first impression of the company.
The first company I tried was Mount n' Seal. Not only is it an ugly website, it's also unhelpful and not intuitive to navigate. Also, multiple clicks are required before you actually get anywhere.
The main page looks like this:
Get it? GET IT??
First off, hooray that somebody's fifteen-year-old niece is handy with HTML and/or some sort of computer drawing program. Man, I hate websites where the first page is "Look at our neat graphic. No, you're still not at even the most basic information about our services or products. You still have some clicking to do before you get to see that".
Clicking through that awesome splash page brings you to this:
I'm sorry
You need to appreciate how that looks on my 24" widescreen monitor. Picture an entire sea of that very bright pink, with that graphic up in the top left corner of the screen. It actually hurts your eye to look at.
Aside from the ow-my-eyes-my-eyes factor, there is the functionality of this page to consider. Remember that I'm looking to get my poster shrink-wrapped (to have it mounted and sealed, as it were). Where should I click on that page? The "How It's Made!" icon there is not clickable; it's simply part of the graphic. Clicking on the address gets you a map. clicking on "Much, much more" brings you to a page which bears the title "SHRINKWRAP HALL OF FAME - Some items we have immortalized in plastic!", and then lists said items (ending with "And much, much more!", perhaps leading to some weird Inception-like recursive website hell). Nope, it turns out the correct thing to click on is "FAQ", which actually tells you how much it will cost to mount and seal something based on the dimensions.
♣ ♣ ♣
The site annoyed me so much, that I backed up to my Google search results page, and went with the second choice down the list, Poster Seal.
Dear God
If you're feeling brave, click on that image for the larger view, or visit their website. The reason you can't read what it says right under the main image is that it's an animated GIF of rotating text. The page (the whole site) screams "GeoCities", and it's actually not that far removed (the web address is interlog.com/~poster). clicking through takes you to similarly laid-out page with three animated GIFs, and a set-up that expects you have one specific screen size. I don't know what that screen size is, but it wasn't mine: images were floating above the text, obscuring what the page had to tell me.
At the bottom of that page, however, is an icon with the caption "Website by Lawrence", so at least you know who to blame. If you clicked on that link (fool!), you may note that Lawrence's splash page is actually a branch of Poster Seal's site, so maybe it's just another quality service they offer. You may also note that on a single page, Lawrence has used five different font colours, two different font faces, several animated GIFs and a background that distracts from reading the text.
♣ ♣ ♣
A apologize if I coming off as elitist. I realize that I am being overly harsh on people who have clearly not put a lot of money into their websites. But that's kind of my point: these are companies that are trying to get my business, and they are not putting their best foot forward to make that good first impression. They aren't even putting their second-best or somewhat-weak-third leg forward.
SPEND THE MONEY ON YOUR WEBSITE. Neither of these websites come off as professional at all to me. I picture a guy (or the aforementioned fifteen-year-old niece) slapping their flipper-like appendages on the keyboard while giggling and shouting "HORAYY FOR INTERNETS!" This might be acceptable to people getting one-off posters done, like myself (I'll probably end up going with Poster Seal if they actually will do free pick-up and delivery), but if I was ordering things for my company? Hell, no. I could not go before my boss and say "This is the company I've decided to go with".