This is the first in an ongoing series where I will tell you just what
is wrong with something in my humble opinion. There may be profanity -
there will be insults.
First on the list of people, places, and things that need to get their
stuff together:
http://theownerbuildernetwork.co
I saw a picture of something on facebook and was curious about the
specifications on how it was built. I reverse image searched and found
it at the above mentioned website. The first thing that they need to
fix is the hover drop down menus. They may have been all the rage in
web design in 2011, (the copyright date you'll see at this site), but
most savvy developers realize that they are actually less useful to
most users than fixed drop downs. They may be annoying on a
desk/laptop but they are completely useless on a touchscreen. You
know, tablets and phones, the fastest growing segment of computer
interface devices in the history of ever? How anyone that has ever
navigated a website can deliberately use them I cannot fathom.
That is just the interface, the thing this site most needs to get
their stuff together on is the content. Actually, it still might be
the interface, I may never know. I looked up the fold up picnic table
I was curious about and found several pictures. They employ a lightbox
because... I don't know, people like them I guess. I didn't see any
instructions or specifications but I did see there was a page 2 so I
clicked it. It didn't look much different. I sometimes find websites
that don't work in one browser so I exited Firefox and tried the site
in IE and Chrome. No go.
The worst part of visiting this website was trying to use their
'contact us.' It doesn't fit on the screen so I hit F11 and it still
doesn't fit on the screen. So, I typed up my question: "Are there
instructions or is it just the pictures? Could it be a problem on my
end?' I don't think my question got through, they have a captcha but,
as I said, the whole form doesn't fit on my screen and I don't think I
successfully clicked the hidden 'send.'
As it stands, I am positive their website is functionally the most
terrible thing I have seen in recent memory, but I am unsure if their
content is as pointless as it would seem. If there are no specs and no
instructions of any kind then it's really just another picture board.
DIY pinterest without pinterest being involved. If there are
instructions but you have to use Netscape or something to see some
hidden button, well, maybe fix your website for 21st century browsers.
I don't know how to wrap up other than to say I was obviously quite
distressed by something as innocuous as visiting a website hoping to
learn something.
