Really bad web sites

[calmloki]

So i'm trying to get some remote controlled lights going in the new house (a pool light specifically) and thought the x10 system would be the way to go. After visiting their web site I think i'll just break the bulbs with a rock instead. If their gear is as bad as their web site it just CAN'T work.

give it a gander and try - just try - to look at the front page price for their "view your home over your mobile phone" offer. Madness.

That's x10.com NOT a plug

Another bad to view site? Try Yale University School of Art: Home Shouldn't an art department's web site look, oh, I don't know, good?

Other demonstations of horrible web design?

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Another bad to view site? Try Yale University School of Art: Home Shoulden't an art department's web site look, oh, I don't know, good?

You should see the School of Architecture building at Yale -- think Soviet style corrugated concrete. It's the second ugliest building on campus (after the Science Tower).

[Tigger]

Stay calm, Loki. ;-)

I think http://www.godaddy.com must have been about the worst site I've ever tried to use. That's not a plug either, I'm a happy http://www.namecheap.com user.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki So i'm trying to get some remote controlled lights going in the new house (a pool light specifically) and thought the x10 system would be the way to go. After visiting their web site I think i'll just break the bulbs with a rock instead. If their gear is as bad as their web site it just CAN'T work. give it a gander and try - just try - to look at the front page price for their "view your home over your mobile phone" offer. Madness. That's x10.com NOT a plug ...............?

I've had an X10 plug-in controller and a half dozen modules scattered around my house for more than 10 years. They have been very reliable and a cheap way to control lights remotely. The X10 site has a user forum and I've seen some brutal honesty there, so if you go back, it is a reasonable source of known issues.

Oh yea, you are right- their site sucks.

[Sarah in SC]

I hate the Penfed website, but mostly because it looks like it hasn't been updated since 1985.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC I hate the Penfed website, but mostly because it looks like it hasn't been updated since 1985.

+1

The sad fact is PenFed totally redid the site about a year ago. One of the ugliest sites around and not at all user friendly.

[Rustward]

Couldn't get the home page to load, so yeah, it must be bad.

Just the other day I remarked to DW that we have some X10 modules and controllers in daily use that I acquired in the early 80's from a liquidator called DAK. Just estimated that we have one lamp controller that has probably done about 13,000 on/off cycles since we have been in this house; who knows how many cycles in the 9 or so years I had it before moving here. That one is mostly controlled by the little computer interfaced box (RS-232 interface with a little windows app). IIRC the app was originally DOS.

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Another bad to view site? Try Yale University School of Art: Home Shouldn't an art department's web site look, oh, I don't know, good?

Maybe this is the NEW good?

[W2R]

Apparently the latest fad among website owners is to give some idiot hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade the website, in a way so that it is too graphics intensive and slow. They get a bonus if the website freezes the average upgraded, expensive computer on high speed access so badly that it has to be rebooted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC I hate the Penfed website, but mostly because it looks like it hasn't been updated since 1985.

I'd be perfectly happy with a 1985 website. Simple text instead of graphics is a perfectly acceptable way of transmitting information, IMO. But then I'm an old fuddy-duddy.

Edited to add: Hmm. In 1985 I was on the internet, but if there was a world wide web I didn't know about it. The internet included darpanet, milnet, and the like as I recall. All text.

[kyounge1956]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Apparently the latest fad among website owners is to give some idiot hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade the website, in a way so that it is too graphics intensive and slow. They get a bonus if the website freezes the average upgraded, expensive computer on high speed access so badly that it has to be rebooted. (snip)

Tell me about it. And if you are on dial-up, you might as well not exist. Just out of curiosity, I tried to load both the X10 and Yale Univ pages. After a few minutes, they weren't showing up so I stuck a DVD in the computer and watched "A Man for all Seasons", plus the biography of Sir Thomas More on the end. By the end of the movie, they had barely started loading—there was nothing but a blank white space after a 2 hour movie! Phooey on them!

[travelover]

Try this site:

Buy X10 Products at Smarthome

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Try this site: Buy X10 Products at Smarthome

Much calmer, lacks the frantic huckster quality of the x10 site. Able to glean information without going into epileptic/apoplectic fits. Thankyou.

Does look like there may be an issue with fluorescent lights, x10 needing a path through the incandescent filament to carry it's signal. Was thinking of being able to kill a set of photoelectric controlled fluorescent yard lights.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Much calmer, lacks the frantic huckster quality of the x10 site. Able to glean information without going into epileptic/apoplectic fits. Thankyou. Does look like there may be an issue with fluorescent lights, x10 needing a path through the incandescent filament to carry it's signal. Was thinking of being able to kill a set of photoelectric controlled fluorescent yard lights.

You might need to use an appliance module to control the lights. I've noticed that my (old) modules don't work with CFBs

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover Try this site: Buy X10 Products at Smarthome

Just fyi, I recently tried to purchase some items from Smarthome. I do a lot of online and telephone purchasing for my reseller business, and my experience with Smarthome was horrendous. I bought something from them years ago with no problem, but this time was a disaster. I think if your purchase is a "buy something in stock and receive it" process, they are fine. If there is any complication, they truly suck. Just a warning. Also, I told them during one of my long, screaming phone calls with them that if I got a chance to let people know how bad they were I would, so I'm keeping my word.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki So i'm trying to get some remote controlled lights going in the new house (a pool light specifically) and thought the x10 system would be the way to go. After visiting their web site I think i'll just break the bulbs with a rock instead. If their gear is as bad as their web site it just CAN'T work. give it a gander and try - just try - to look at the front page price for their "view your home over your mobile phone" offer. Madness. That's x10.com NOT a plug Another bad to view site? Try Yale University School of Art: Home Shouldn't an art department's web site look, oh, I don't know, good? Other demonstations of horrible web design?

I'm waiting for Nords to show up to complain about the Bogleheads site.

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki That's x10.com NOT a plug

ohmygawd. The <BLINK> tag! I thought that thing was dead! At least most browsers from this century ignore it now.

An entire page of animated GIFs and (broken) blinkytext. With popovers. Eccch!

Still, nobody beats http://www.timecube.com for bad HTML, overall ugliness, and... um... content-free content. (Caution: Link goes to crazy person dumpage.)

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley I'm waiting for Nords to show up to complain about the Bogleheads site.

There's a difference between "Our website sucks because that's the way we like it" and "Our website sucks and kills our credibility, but we're trying really really hard!"

I can barely keep up with this board, but over 100 posts/day? Yikes.