I like to explore the yellow pages for examples of websites because of the wide variety between downright terrible to well designed. The website I chose for this post is not terrible, in fact it sits right in the middle, with mistakes that anyone can make if they’re not being totally careful. The business is a swanky west side hair salon that I once visited on a deep discount.
The site struggles between nice design and bad development. What I mean by that is, it’s glitchy.
First, it’s not totally optimized for Chrome. The homepage doesn’t scroll down without having to manually click and drag the side bar, which is a common mistake. Always check each major browser before you decide to launch a site. If it doesn’t work for one, make that fix.
The site also varies in page lengths. The homepage has a ridiculously large Facebook plugin that takes up the bottom of the page. Reducing the size is likely a quick fix, as Facebook plugins are not supposed to be that large. There is also a random enter button in the middle that directs the user to a page of the same length, only without the plugin. Here’s what the homepage looks like from top to bottom:
The pages shorten to a normal length once you click into the categories. As you can see in the picture below, the side bar shows I’m at the bottom of the page. This is an optimal size for the site.
I also noticed that a lot of the links aren’t clickable or lead to blank pages. When I checked, some of the links that don’t work in Mozilla work in Chrome or Safari. Everyone gets his or her own experience, but overall it’s quite frustrating.
After all this, I must say that I like the design of the site. The black looks chic and the pictures are nice. If the gallery works on your browser, there are some nice photos that give prospective clients a good idea of what to expect. You can book an appointment online and learn a bit about the staff before coming in.
If you weren’t sure why you would ever need to seek a professional web developer, I hope this post can help you to understand their importance. If you still think it’s a waste and want to go DIY, be sure to check for these types of glitches. A beautiful website is good to look at, but without the right developer, it’s just for looking.