Love and Hate-regarding Websites

I admit, I am a Google Search Addict

I love to search out different subjects and visit websites. So when I joined WA, and built my own website with WordPress, I already knew what I did and did not like or love about websites in general.

Websites are a bit like the Love Hearts candies that I have in the Image. They all come with different messages, and some are better than others with their message.

What do I hate about a website? I'll give you a list

#1-When I encounter a website that has videos that turn on automatically, that annoys me. If there is only one that I can turn off, that's okay. I am there because I want to read something first, on a subject that I did a Google Search for. However, if there are more videos turning on as I scroll the page, I leave the website. The sound is often turned on high on those videos, nearly giving me a fit, when I am not expecting the video!

#2-When there are Ads popping up in my face, interupting my reading, making me close them before I can finish reading, I leave the website. Especially annoying is when I am asked to do a 'survey' before moving on with a page. Some websites are so plagued with ads plastered into the article, that I get tired and move on.

#3-I will also leave a website early, if it's hard to read. Maybe the font is tiny and the background is really 'busy', with a pattern of some sort. Some of the older websites have really wild patterns, like Grandma's wallpaper pattern! A pet peeve of mine (no pun intended), is pet websites that have the pattern of paw prints or bones all over the background. That stopped being cute a long time ago.

I don't mean a tasteful border, I mean having a pattern BEHIND the content. It's hard enough to read small fonts, without the pattern behind the words. Sometimes a website background is black with almost invisible text, or the entire website is white everywhere I look. Some colour is important to keep my interest and too much has me rubbing my eyes.

#4-As Language Arts was my forte in school, the information in a website needs to be accurate with minimal grammar mistakes for me to keep reading. A few here and there are normal. When the grammar is so bad that one cannot understand the context, I am out of there in a flash. I do a lot of research, reading many many articles from a large number of websites to get the correct information. So when I encounter an article that is completely inaccurate, I do not read further. It makes me wonder how accurate the rest of the posts and pages are.

For example, I recently encountered a very knowledgable looking site on Hemp. They had a knowledge base that was inaccurate. They stated that Hemp buds or flowers had no use, and that CBD concentrates only came from Marijuana. This is completely wrong! I sent them an email and politely corrected them on this....yes, I did it politely and respectfully. They thanked me :)

Now what do I love about a website?

In order for me to love a website and want to bookmark it, it cannot have the above problems. I already mentioned accuracy, grammar, readability with no distasteful ' in your face ads'.

#1- Generally easy to read, written in layperson's terms so I don't have to reach for a dictionary search too often. Lots of paragraphs to create 'white space', easy on the eyes. I often have to remind myself to do that when writing!

#2-The posts are medium in length, easy to read with relevant images. A very long article is extremely difficult to read on my Iphone for one. When I am doing a Google Search, I want to get the information fairly quickly, I am not there to read a novel. I do that on my E Reader :)

#3-Videos are great, as long as they are less than 10 minutes in length. I love YouTube and Vimeo. A video is often worth a thousand words, and can explain something better visually than with words. However, I want to have the choice of choosing to watch it, rather than having it turn on automatically.

#4-When I make the effort to make a comment to interact with the author, and the author replies quickly, I love that too. It gives one a warm welcome feeling :) I have visited many websites where you can see the comments from the readers, went unanswered, for weeks, months or even years..I often wonder why? I believe you should treasure your readers, as it's an honour to have them to choose YOUR website long enough to comment.

I guess that's it, maybe you can think of others. What do you Love or Hate about a website? These are MY opinions, but I suspect many of you share the same views about websites that you have visited. Cheers!