Web Design Fails & Wins: The Good, The Bad, and The Hilariously Ugly
Web design is an art. A delicate balance of aesthetics, usability, and trying not to make visitors run away screaming. For every beautifully designed website, there’s an absolute train wreck out there—confusing menus, neon backgrounds, and fonts that make you question humanity.
Let’s take a look at the best (and worst) of web design, from the catastrophes that haunt us to the genius that keeps us clicking.
1. The “Welcome to 1999” Websites
You know the ones—backgrounds flashing like a rave, Comic Sans proudly displayed, and buttons that look like they were designed in Microsoft Paint. These websites are time machines, taking us back to an era when blinking text was cool and guestbooks were a thing.
Bonus points if:
✅ There’s auto-playing MIDI music
✅ You see a “Hit Counter” at the bottom
✅ The “Under Construction” sign has been there since 2002
2. The Mystery Navigation Menu
Ever landed on a website and thought, “Where the heck do I click?” The navigation menu is either:
🔹 Hidden in a secret dropdown that only Indiana Jones could find
🔹 Floating around the page like it’s lost in space
🔹 Disguised as something completely unrelated (why is the ‘Contact’ button inside a spinning GIF of a cat?)
Some sites take minimalism way too far—it’s not sleek if your visitors need a scavenger hunt to find your content.
3. The “Mobile-Friendly” Disaster
“Oh, our site is totally mobile-friendly!” they say. Until you try to use it.
- Buttons are the size of an ant—good luck clicking anything.
- Text is so tiny it requires a NASA-grade zoom feature.
- Images are stretched beyond recognition, making your logo look like an abstract art piece.
Pro tip: If your website forces people to do finger gymnastics to navigate, it’s time for a redesign.
4. The Pop-Up Apocalypse
Picture this: You land on a website. Immediately…
🚨 SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER! 🚨
🚨 TAKE OUR SURVEY! 🚨
🚨 SPECIAL OFFER—DON’T LEAVE! 🚨
You haven’t even read a single word of the actual content yet. At this point, escaping is harder than closing 50 tabs on a Windows XP computer. Congratulations, your website is now a digital hostage situation.
5. The Font Fiasco
Fonts can make or break a website. Some designers take creative risks, and well… it shows.
See our blog post about bad fonts…
Your website should not look like a ransom note. Pick two or three fonts and call it a day.
6. The Infinite Scroll of Doom
Ever been stuck in a website that never ends? You just wanted to read an article, but somehow, you’re five pages deep in an endless scroll, questioning your life choices.
By the time you get to the actual comments section, you’ve aged 10 years and forgotten why you came here in the first place.
7. The “Who Designed This?!” Button Placement
Want to click “Submit”? Oh wait, that’s actually the “Delete All” button.
Trying to go back? Sorry, you just exited the entire website.
Some websites have buttons placed with the logic of a chaotic evil designer. Clicking the wrong thing can feel like setting off a nuclear launch sequence.
Final Thoughts: Web Design Is a Journey
Great web design makes people stay, engage, and actually enjoy using a website. Bad web design? That makes people rage-click the back button.
If your website feels like a game of “escape the room,” it might be time for a redesign. Keep it clean, and functional, and please, for the love of the internet, no auto-playing music.
💬 Have you ever come across a hilariously bad website? Share your worst web design horror stories in the comments!
Does your website fit any of the above? No worries—contact us, and we’ll fix it. We promise not to tell anyone it ever looked like that.” 😆💻
