PUGly Web Sites

PUgly? What’s PUgly and what does it have to do with web sites? PUgly is my own abbreviation for the descriptive phrase “Pretty Ugly” and the rest should be self-explanatory.  I will admit, I got the idea from another phrase that I heard that’s exactly the same except for one letter. I’ll leave figuring out that one letter to you because I can’t print it here. You can’t see me, but there’s a big evil grin on my face.

Why Are We Talking About Ugly Web Sites?

How’s this for an answer? Because I see an awful lot of them!

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is ugly. Whether a site is pretty or ugly is the opinion of the person viewing the site. What is beautiful to one person is quite the opposite to another. Goes right along with old “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” Pretty and Ugly are opposites of one another and so PUGly is the perfect nickname to describe where I’m coming from.

Who Should be the One to Judge?

You? Your friends, relatives or co-workers? What about your web designer? The way I look at it, your friends, relatives and even your co-workers might be just a “leeeeetle bit” prejudice. At best (especially if it’s a do-it-yourself-er) they sure don’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you that what you think is the best looking web site in the world, really isn’t. On the other hand, a professional web designer is more than likely going to be much more objective. No, we don’t want to hurt your feelings either, that’s not what we’re here for or what we do (at least we try not to). All the web designers I know, myself included, are of the mind that it’s part of our job to look out for our clients. I guess you could say part of our job is babysitting our clients in that respect, and don’t be taking that the wrong way, either. It’s really just a matter of us knowing our business and the fact that it’s not in your job description to know all that we do. For example, lets say you’re a lawyer … just because I’m doing your web site doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and learn all about the lawyer business for example. I’ll learn what I need to know just by working through the site development process.

Just like an Interior Designer feels qualified to judge whether or not a room in your house is PUgly, a web designer feels qualified to make judgments on web sites. If you seek out a web designer and ask their opinion, they’ll give it to you. They’ll do it tactfully and professionally if they have a brain in their head! Your end of the deal is to not take offense. What this means is “if you’re not prepared to hear the answer … don’t ask.”  You’re asking for an opinion from someone who does this day in and day out and if you’re lucky, you’ve hooked up with a designer who knows their stuff. The answer you get is going to be solely directed at what we feel is good for your business and as we all know (or should know) business is business and opinions from a web designer should not be taken personally even if you don’t like what you hear.

What’s a Good Description of a PUGly Web Site?

A few examples that come to mind are:

• 1. Web sites that spout all the bells and whistles you can find to put on it. They flash, they flicker, they jiggle and jitter, and/or they make sounds or play music.
• 2. The colors used are those that you need sunglasses to view or they’re so gaudy that even your own Mother would have trouble being tactful in giving you her opinion.
• 3. Web sites that have absolutely loads of information crammed into every nook and cranny there is to put something. Your eyes jump around and go whicky whacky trying to read what’s on the pages and they can never truly land on any one thing.
• 4. The local weather on a business web site. Sorry folks, that’s cornball stuff that works fine on a personal site but absolutely no clouds and weather forecasts belong on a business site unless it’s a weather related site.

Those are just a few of the blatant examples that rushed into my head. If you have one or more of these on your web site, Congratulations! You qualify as a PUGly Web Site Owner.