Top 5 things I hate about web design

Posted by Roan Lavery on Aug 9

Generally speaking, I love what I do, but there are bits of my job which I could definitely live without. Moments in a project which I dread, or find myself avoiding like the plague. I know there’s no way around them, but I ain’t going to be a happy bunny.

Here are my current Top 5 things in web design that I could happily live without:

  • IE – Pretty much a no brainer this one. IE is the single biggest thing that, by not existing, would make my life easier. It would probably slash the development process time by 15% minimum I reckon.
  • E-commerce – I can appreciate that people like buying things online, but why does E-commerce have to be sooo complicated. You’ve got to get a cart, and the hosting that will support that cart, and make sure it’s all secure, and the right merchant account that can talk to your cart. Oh but wait, now the cart you’ve got spews out HTML like it’s Frontpage, the merchant account doesn’t listen to the cart and the hosting doesn’t have any of the security features it claimed it does. Argggh.
  • Flash – Never liked Flash. I can appreciated what skilled people can do with it and I wont go as far as saying it’s 99% bad, but personally I hate working with it. Everything just seems so….fiddly.
  • Creating Forms – Big forms specifically. These can become a total snooze fest. In fact, such is my procrastination with forms, that I’m writing this blog posts now instead of creating a huge 7 page form that I’m meant to be doing! Busted!
  • Stock Photography – Good images can make or break a design, so it’s important to get the right photography. Still, it’s tedious work trawling through image banks to find that perfect “Handshake Shot”.

So, that’s my Top 5 things I hate about making websites. What are yours?

28 Comments for Top 5 things I hate about web design

Birgit - 9 August 2006

First point was the first thing I thought when I read the heading. No doubts about that one :D

Congrats to the new site design, it’s a beaut!

Egon Bianchet - 9 August 2006

1. Internet Explorer. Everybody hates Internet Explorer, no explanation needed.

2. PHP. I’m still using it because of Drupal, or I would be coding in Python or Ruby. 3. Text Editors and IDEs. I’ve tried them all, from Emacs to Bluefish to Eclipse, and no one really made me happy. Right now I’m using jEdit but my dream is something well integrated in the Gnome environment. 4. Having to choose between Verdana, Arial, Trebuchet, and … nothing else. 5. Javascript-based rich text editors. Clients and users want them even if sooner or later they will break your design, no matter what. Plain text or Markdown for me, thanks.

lawton chiles - 9 August 2006

I think, even though I just started web design and graphics work, that I too HATE IE. I love firefox and safari. Why can’t IE just go away?

Example: a graphic I dd the other day looked fine in other browers, but not in ie, oh no… and i didn’t know how to fix the grainy look for one browser….ARghh!

Jim Cronin - 9 August 2006

#5 can be tedious – and will probably only become more so. But having it as a resource is invaluable. Now that there are affordable sites (istockphoto.com) makes it even better.

J Phill - 9 August 2006

As much as I hate IE, I’ve just come to accept that it’s apart of the job, like normally house cleaning or something.

One thing that’s not on the list that I hate is non-designers trying to art direct designers.

Emily - 10 August 2006

I dislike IE, just like everyone else, with a passion. I hate that my knowledge of things like PHP and mySQL makes me feel so limited when we work with content management systems, which, by the way, I also dislike. WYSIWYG editors drive me nuts, and people who think that because they made something in Dreamweaver makes them a professional drives me even more crazy. I’m not a fan of e-mail marketing. Have you seen the statistics? They’re pitiful. Is that more than 5? I think I got carried away… :o)

michael - 10 August 2006

I hate it when web designers try to get too clever and don’t use left margins. That makes text uncomfortable to read and looking like the style sheet is unfinished.

Amanda Malia - 10 August 2006

Has no one mentioned documentation? Writing documentation to help non-tech administrators use Joomla/Drupal puts me to sleep! Everyone asks for it and then no one actually uses it. ARGH.

Sibo Lin - 10 August 2006

I hate IE, Windows (which doesn’t anti-alias text as well as Mac), and designing for 800×600. Too bad designing for the Firefox/MacOSX/1024×768 crowd would exclude 90% of my visitors.

Oh, changing a site’s layout in textpattern is also a pain. They should incorporate Wordpress’s template switching system.

Roan - 10 August 2006

Woah, looks like I opened a pandoras box of pent-up rage here.

Everybody seems to agree on IE. Hopefully that will change for the better in the next year or so.

Some other great ones though. I’ll definitely second documentation.

Keep them coming.

Simon - 10 August 2006

IE always, spent three days once just getting a clients project IE compatable…

Birgit - 10 August 2006

@J Phill
good point! these are a pain in the ass…and I also hate the ones that spill the reputation of designers by pretending that they can design.

@Sibo Lin
oh yeah, switching the layout in textpattern. this would be one of the main reasons for me to prefer WP over TXP.
Gone through it in spring, but still not finished cleaning up the mess :)

oh and, although I might be called a traitor by my colleagues, I almost hate TYPO3. Just cannot figure out the way things are set together. And the WYSIWYG editor is so damn slow, and it gives the customer far too much freedom to generate bad HTML code. Argh!

J Phill - 10 August 2006

I don’t mind the WYSIWYG editors, if someone wants to generate bad code, fine by me, that’s what separates the good designers from the bad!

JOSE VILLALOBOS - 10 August 2006

I agree with the IE thing it sucks, and I also agree with the photo stock thing, there is nothing better to take your own pictures, i disagree with the whole other points I think skill people really can do those perfectly.

Roan - 10 August 2006

It’s not about being able to do them, it’s about wanting to do them.

I’ve spent the last 3 days creating forms for insurance companies. It’s not hard but I can think of better ways to spend my time.

Nick C - 10 August 2006

I did a website in 1998 for an insurance broker with a 17-page form. I was ill for a week afterwards.

I think I really hate clients – if they didn’t exist then the websites would all look wonderful. Eating and paying rent may be problematical but I think I’d be happy…

Roan Lavery - 10 August 2006

@Nick
Classic! I’d agree with you often, but sometimes a good client can make a project a joy.

I had a brilliant client recently and the end result was better for everyone: me, client and the user.

Justin McGonigle - 12 August 2006

Not having the money to go to all of the conferences; and scoring work.

God bless IE 7…Glad to move on.

Birgit - 15 August 2006

oh and have I mentioned that I hate getting web layouts from print designers…

Roan - 15 August 2006

@Birgit
Yep, good one as well.

What, all the text sits at a diagonal? Oh that’ll be no problem at all ;)

evvo - 24 August 2006

Why does everyone have such a problem with IE?

Is it cool to hate it because it’s microsoft? IE is used by nearly 90% people so I’m afaid you’re just going to live with it.

Roan Lavery - 24 August 2006

@Evvo
It’s nothing to do with Microsoft, and it’s certainly nothing to do with being cool, but it is everything to do with the poorly built and non standards compliant IE6 browser. When creating CSS based sites IE’s bugs, glitches and incorrect implementation of the CSS specs make a web designer’s life much more difficult than need be.

On a positive note, the IE team seem to have made great strides with IE7, and that’s something Microsoft should be applauded for.

Alan - 29 August 2006

Yeah but they do seem to take 2 steps forward, three steps back ;-)

Jason - 29 August 2006

“On a positive note, the IE team seem to have made great strides with IE7, and that’s something Microsoft should be applauded for.”

In the same way one applauds a baby for finally learning to use the potty instead of crapping on the floor. It’s that, not quite sarcastic, “yay, its about time!” applause.

Roan - 29 August 2006

Golf clap for Microsoft :)

Erwin Heiser - 10 September 2006

I’m with you on IE and Flash I hate both with a vengeance as well. Let’s hope IE7 is a little better. Also agree on clients, the good ones usually make working on a project a lot easier, the bad ones just seem to grind you down…
Nice blog you got here BTW

Shane DZ - 15 September 2006

Novice developer here. Just starting out and a friend hands me this link and says “Study hard, young man.”

Yadda Yadda

I agree with the IE thing. Im still using WYSIWYG’s (but I can code HTML and CSS at this point) and IE throws me off. Apparently, it confounds even the pros here.

I am here to learn but I recognize the obstacles that I face in my endeavors are the same annoyances sited here.

Thanks to all for the caveats and tips.

Candice Harris - 5 October 2006

I am not a web designer yet but I do understand your feelings about these things which cause only irritation and take away your time as well as money. The one thing I completely agree with is the IE. A lot of my friends and acquaintances who practiced in web design are not happy about IE. It is difficult to work with it.

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