Updated June 14, 2026
Hooooo boy. This list has been a long time coming. I’ve amassed quite a few over the years, but I’ll spare you the minor infractions and just give you the doozies. While there are thousands of fabulous websites out there, there are still plenty struggling with the basics. Ask any web designer and they’ll probably have a similar list. Consider this your intervention.
Avoid the following pitfalls like the plague. You’ll be glad you did.
1. I’m still waiting
Do everything you can to avoid long load times. Users expect pages to load in seconds — and if yours doesn’t, they’re gone before they’ve read a word. Optimize your images, minimize unnecessary scripts, and don’t load up your site with things that look impressive but perform terribly. Speed is not optional.
2. It doesn’t work on my phone
This one still surprises me. More than half of web traffic comes from mobile devices. If your site isn’t responsive — meaning it adapts cleanly to different screen sizes — you are actively turning people away. A site that looks great on a desktop and falls apart on a phone is not a finished website. It’s half a website.
3. Obtrusive advertising and interruptions
Nobody wants to sit through an ad. Nobody clicks the popup. Nobody appreciates the overlay that covers the entire screen three seconds after they arrive. Find better ways to engage your visitors than ambushing them the moment they show up. This includes intro animations, which have never been as cool as the person who built them thought they were.
4. Bad navigation
Unclear, inconsistent, hidden — don’t make your users work to find what they came for. Simple is always better. Use language that is self-explanatory, make sure the navigation is easy to find and use, and for the love of all things holy, make sure it works on mobile too.
5. No clear call to action
This is the one people don’t realize they’re missing. You’ve built a beautiful site. Someone lands on it, reads it, likes what they see — and then has absolutely no idea what to do next. What do you want them to do? Call you? Fill out a form? Book a consultation? Tell them. Clearly. On every page. Don’t make them figure it out.
6. Screaming graphics
Bigger, brighter, bolder is not better. If everything screams, nothing is heard. Choose the most important message on each page and let that be the star. Everything else should support it quietly. Restraint is a design skill.
7. Stock photos that look like stock photos
You know the ones. The diverse team in the glass conference room. The woman laughing alone with a salad. The generic handshake. These images say nothing about your company and everything about the fact that nobody thought too hard about the visuals. Invest in real photography if you can. If you can’t, at least choose stock images that feel human and specific rather than generic and staged.
8. Inaccessible design
Poor color contrast, missing alt text on images, navigation that can’t be used with a keyboard, auto-playing video with sound — these aren’t just annoyances, they’re barriers. A significant portion of your audience may have visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities, and a site that doesn’t account for that is a site that’s turned away real people. Accessibility isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a baseline.
9. Spelling and grammar that makes you wince
If you’re not a strong writer, hire a copywriter. If that’s not in the budget, at minimum run a spell check before you publish. Nothing undermines a professional image faster than a typo in the headline.
10. Stop! My eyes!
Large areas of white type on a black background. Colors that buzz against each other. Repetitive flashing elements. Too much contrast or too little. The list goes on. If you’re not confident with color and design, let a professional handle it. Your visitors’ retinas will thank you.
11. Comic Sans — see you in the funny papers
I’m about the thousandth designer to say this, but it bears repeating because — unbelievably — I’m still seeing it. Comic Sans does not belong anywhere on a professional website. I’d like to say it’s appropriate for a children’s site, but even then. It’s just not. Choose a font that represents your company well and leave Comic Sans where it belongs: in the early 2000s.
12. Can’t see the forest for the trees
White space is not wasted space. It’s breathing room. It’s what allows your message to land. Most clients look at a well-designed layout and ask “can’t we fill that blank space with something?” The answer is no. The negative space is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do — giving the eye somewhere to rest and making sure the important things actually get noticed. Trust the designer. Leave the white space alone.
13. Autoplay video with sound
The modern equivalent of music on websites — which was a pet peeve on the original version of this list and has since been thoroughly defeated. Autoplay video with sound is its spiritual successor, and it’s just as unwelcome. If you have video, let people choose to watch it. Don’t ambush them with it.
If any of these made you glance nervously at your own site, that’s useful information. Let’s take a look together.
