Top Ten New Mistakes of Web Design
Howard Lake | 29 May 1999 | News
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen updates his list of common Web design mistakes.
Jakob Nielsen first listed the most common Web design mistakes in 1996. “Unfortunately new Web technology and new applications for the Web have introduced an entirely new class of mistakes,” he now writes. He has published the ten worst mistakes.
They do not of course apply exclusively to charity Web sites, but they are worth perusing if you run a charity Web site.
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“Lack of Archives”, “Moving Pages to New URLs” and “Headlines That Make No Sense Out of Context” all make sense. However, Nielsen is something of a purist, and UK Fundraising takes issue with some of his list of “mistakes.” He recommends that “it is best to avoid any designs that look like advertisements”. While we agree with the approach, and concur that Web users are becoming inured to some advertisements, Web advertising is still an essential service for advertisers and a source of income for publishers.
Read Neilsen’s list of mistakes and decide if you can act on them.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.