Web Bloopers Archive
Jeff Johnson formerly had a blog on this site called "Web Blooper of the Month". That blog was discontinued in 2005, but this page is an archive of all the posts. Enjoy!
NOTE: This is an archive. The posts are preserved here as originally posted; they have not been updated. The referenced websites have all changed significantly since we reviewed them, and some have disappeared as their companies folded or were merged into other companies. Any such changes are not reflected in these posts.
- August 2005: Funny Bloopers :-)
- July 2005: False Choices
- June 2005: Links Distract from Task
- May 2005: No post
- April 2005: Burdening Users' Memory
- March 2005: Speaking Geek
- February 2005: Search Misses Relevant Items
- January 2005: Stealth PDF Links
- December 2004: No post
- November 2004: Broken Internal Links
- October 2004: No post
- September 2004: Important Info Below Fold
- August 2004: Mystery Plug-In Required
- July 2004: Search-Hits Lack Meta-data
- June 2004: List Isn't a List
- May 2004: No post
- April 2004: Generic, Vague Error Messages
- March 2004: Poor Search-Results Navigation
- February 2004: Internal & External Links Look Alike
- January 2004: FAQ Doesn't Contain FAQs
- December 2003: Dueling Search Controls
- November 2003: Fixed-Width Layout
- October 2003: Faulty Defaults
- September 2003: Not Linking Directly
- August 2003: No post
- July 2003: Clueless Back End
- June 2003: Confusing Checkboxes and Radiobuttons
- May 2003: Click Here: Burying Links in Text
- April 2003: Unfinished Content
- March 2003: Current Page Not Indicated
- February 2003: Wrapped Links: How Many?
- January 2003: Centering Everything
- December 2002: Search Terms Not Shown
- November 2002: Dead End Paths: Now You Tell Me!
- October 2002: Too Much Text
- September 2002: Evil Defaults
- August 2002: Unhelpful Content Description
- July 2002: Active Link to Current Page
- June 2002: Requiring More Data Than Needed
- May 2002: Intolerant Text and Number Fields
- April 2002: Calling Site Visitors "User" to Their Face
- March 2002: Search "Hits" All Look Alike
- February 2002: Home Page Identity Crisis
- January 2002: Tiny Fonts
- December 2001: Big Buttons With Tiny Click-Targets
Our Books:
Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Guidelines (3rd ed.). An introduction to cognitive and perceptual psychology for software designers and developers. Now in its 3rd edition.
Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design. Rationale and guidelines for designing technology so as not to exclude the almost 40% of the population that is over 50.
Conceptual Models: Core to Good Design. User interfaces are simpler and more task-focused when designers start by constructing a conceptual model of the intended application. This book explains what conceptual models are, how to construct them, and why they are valuable.
GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos. A completely-updated second edition of the original GUI Bloopers, published in 2007. Available at most booksellers, including: