Design better

This week we take a look at a fascinating site that tells you how not to design your Web site. It gives very useful guidelines that can be easily followed to develop a Web site that scores on looks as well as content. The trick is learning what not to do.

www.webpagesthatsuck.com

This site believes in getting better at your work, or doing a good job if it's the first time, by first learning what not to do. In this case, it's designing of Web sites that we are talking about.

The site details the common traps that Web designers fall into, and the point is always illustrated by the example of some up-and-running Web site that's got it all wrong.

There are live examples in the `Daily Sucker' section, where the author explores a new way of doing something bad. The author dwells on what constitutes `suckiness', what to avoid while designing a Web site, when an element ceases to be an asset and becomes hazardous to a Web site's health, and so on.

To get a fair idea of how the site came into existence, click on the `Original Web Pages That Suck Examples' link to find out the bad-looking sites that played a major role in the birth of this site.

The site also features links to Web design resources and a free e-mail newsletter you can subscribe to. In all, a good place to start if you think your site...well, sucks.

Compiled by C. Ramesh