Web Graphics Hall of Shame
Of course, now that I've made a mockery of the rules of web graphics, I must backtrack and state that there are times and places for some rules. In the world of web design and development, we're defined as much by our mistakes as our successes. In many ways, web design is perpetually living in the 1980s, so to speak, and surrounded by an excess of both the frivolous and the epitome of poor taste. We laugh at what we've done, even as we hold such in affection.
In light of this, I give you the Web Graphics Hall of Shame. Before beginning, though, note that I don't come here in disdain, but in celebration. Each of the web graphics listed in this section is a symbol of our growth, and as we all know, growth pains mark progress.
Using the technique made popular by the night-time comedian David Letterman and a generation of follow-up pundits, I give you the Hall of Shame, in descending order.
Under Construction
For a time the Web was littered with sites that were "under construction," many staying this way for months, or sometimes even years. Typically the page had some cute animated "Under Construction" graphic, a claim of wonderful things to come, and that was about it.
At times there would be some very decent use of graphics, so I don't want to necessarily pin the awfulness of these sites on the graphics. No, it was the overwhelming number of such sites that at one point left me with an idea that the Web was nothing more than the domicile for those with big ideas ...