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Failure Notes: new Hall of Shame for web sites and software applications

Friday, 8. May 2009, 13:59:09

Over on the OmegaJunior.Net, we've created a new section called Failure Notes, that zooms in on web sites and software applications that fail to work as advertised or expected.

Articles are available in English and Dutch alike. Set your browser's language preference.

Currently there's 1 failure note, about the Dutch web site of De Telefoongids (the Phone Guide).

Suggestions are welcome.

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Comments

dapxin 8. May 2009, 15:18

good plan.

Samuel 9. May 2009, 19:03

The main cause that some web sites don't display or work correctly is that they don't follow Web Standards according to the W3C.

http://www.w3.org/

Omega Junior 10. May 2009, 21:26

@samfresco:

The W3 Consortium writes up quite a few recommendations, and yes, it seems that a lot of problems are caused by people refusing to follow them.

I used to think that web authors only needed to adhere to the (x)html recommendations, and things would work nicely no matter the client. Not so. It appears that web authors also need to know about accessibility, inter-operability, and security, all of which also are covered by the W3C.

Most of the articles on Failure Notes will probably feature accessibility problems: sites that don't work because the visitor uses a different operating system, mix of plug-ins, screen size, browser, or security settings than the web author, or sites that use a navigation system which proves a puzzle rather than an aid.

A different category will concern off-line software applications. Following W3C recommendations will be of little effect on those. We'll be looking at usability as well as living up to expectations. In the past decades we've built up quite the experience with software applications, both from using them, as well as writing them. I have several problems lined up for publication.

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