# The Ugliest Web Sites **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296 "2012-07-15T13:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/21 "2012-07-16T14:49:49Z")
> [@ASanders](#): > > I encountered [this](http://www.socceragency.net/maps/2012/1207_pocono/homepage.htm) when getting ready to take my daughter to a soccer tournament. There is no excuse whatsoever. > > ETA: Well, there may be an excuse I can’t discern. Is this hideousness the result of a technical error? Or was it designed to look that way? My guess for such sits: someone put a family member or friend in charge of the web site and no one has figured out a polite way to let the decider know what an idiot job it is. “Hey Ralph, your six year old nephew needs to be in therapy, not designing web sites.” It’s the pro sites, like the recently redone weather channel’s local forecast page **s** that baffle me. (Go to [Forecast - The Weather Channel | weather.com](http://www.weather.com/forecast), type in a zip code and try to find basic info: forecast, current conditions, today’s high and low, etc., without having to click thru a half dozen pages.) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/22 "2012-07-16T14:55:35Z")
I’m a little surprised nobody’s mentioned the Yale Art site yet. > **[Home - Yale School of Art](https://www.art.yale.edu/)** > > This site was built with Economy by Linked by Air. In its defense, it used to be worse. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/23 "2012-07-16T18:49:45Z")
Some day, I will have a client with a budget big enough to let me input their content, so it isn’t a beautiful shell with hideous content. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/24 "2012-07-16T19:08:37Z")
You need a [Budd Uggly](http://budugllydesign.com/)design! Check out some of the earlier versions, [but have some aspirin ready](http://budugllydesign.com/archivebud/bud9806/bud.html). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/25 "2012-07-16T20:00:02Z")
For clutter alone one of our local “newspapers” has to be up there; [http://www.oakparkjournal.com/](http://www.oakparkjournal.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/26 "2012-07-16T20:15:17Z")
[Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com)’s web design budget has been eaten up by massive bets in their in-house pool about whether they can use every available royalty-free photograph Getty offers before the end of the decade. I’m mildly surprised that Ain’t It Cool news hasn’t done a redesign since the last time I went there, which was probably 1997. [Allmusic.com](http://Allmusic.com) gets a little more boring and less useful with every redesign. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/27 "2012-07-16T20:47:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > My guess for such sits: someone put a family member or friend in charge of the web site and no one has figured out a polite way to let the decider know what an idiot job it is. “Hey Ralph, your six year old nephew needs to be in therapy, not designing web sites.” This made me laugh out loud. > [@](#): > > It’s the pro sites, like the recently redone weather channel’s local forecast page **s** that baffle me. (Go to [Forecast - The Weather Channel | weather.com](http://www.weather.com/forecast), type in a zip code and try to find basic info: forecast, current conditions, today’s high and low, etc., without having to click thru a half dozen pages.) My pet theory about sites like the Weather Channel is that they’re really aggregators for advertising and sponsored content, and any useful stuff is simply the loss leader. So forcing you to click through a bunch of pages is supposed to expose you to ads and stuff that actually makes them money. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296/28 "2012-07-17T02:32:35Z")
While not quite as bad as some others people have listed, [philly.com](http://www.philly.com/) deserves special mention. Keep in mind that this is the website for a major newspaper in a major city. Try taking a look at it without your adblocker. Also, try moving your mouse toward the beige horizontal bar right underneath the red bar up top. It’s damn near impossible to reach the buttons that say “opinion,” “neighbors,” “obituaries,” etc. without having dropdown menus from the adjacent red bar block your access. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ugliest-web-sites/628296.md?page=1)