Web Design Pet Peeves

We've all seen plenty of websites.  The sheer number of websites that each one of us visits on a daily basis could almost make us experts at critiquing websites.  We know what we like and we also know what annoys us.  Here are my top 5 web design pet peeves...

#5 Sound
How many times have you clicked on a link and some sort of strange sound immediately started blaring through your speakers?  You just can't hit that mute button fast enough.  Usually it's some sort of ad or a silly song that the website creator thought was cute or catchy.  Even if it is a relevant sound, it quickly becomes annoying if it's a site that you frequently visit.  I really don't need to hear the high school's fight song EVERY time I visit their website.  Really...I don't.

#4 Mobile Device Compatibility
With so much of the world utilizing mobile devices, it is imperative that websites work well on tablets and smartphones.  Nothing is more annoying than a website that is unusable or unreadable while you're on the go.  I find that drop down menus are especially difficult to navigate on my smartphone. 

#3 Visual Clutter
Sites that are loaded with a myriad of bright colors, big photographs, and flashy backgrounds are distracting and difficult to read.  Plain and simple.  Generally, good websites are fairly simple.  Readability and usability are way more important here. 

#2 Ads
No one likes ads, but they are a necessary evil on the web.  We all love Google, Facebook, and YouTube.  These are great sites that are completely free to use.  However, that is only possible because of the ad revenue that they generate.  So even while we complain about those annoying ads, they do allow us to have access all of our favorite technological tools for free. 

#1 Registration
If you're like me, you have more usernames and passwords than you can even keep track of.  People today use the Internet to shop, pay their bills, get their news, communicate, stream movies and tv shows, play games, and much more.  Each one of these things usually requires some sort of username or password.  Each one of these sites usually has different requirements for creating a username or password as well.  Some want you to use your e-mail address.  Others want some sort of screen name. Don't even get me started on creating a password.  Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, special characters, AND 20+ characters?  I can almost guarantee that I will never remember that, especially when each website has slightly different criteria resulting in a slightly different user name or password every time.  Sure, a hacker would never be able to access my bank account, but then again neither can I.  Registering for a website also usually means providing your email address which leads to more messages in your inbox.  I'm sure we can all agree that we don't need any more junk mail cluttering our inboxes.  Even when the registration process is "quick" and "easy," I often hesitate because I'm so jaded by the whole process.