DEV Community

Cover image for Your website sucks! And I'll tell you why ⚡️
Twan Mulder
Twan Mulder

Posted on

Your website sucks! And I'll tell you why ⚡️

I had some great success critiquing/roasting your websites on Twitter, and I'd love to help tell you why your website sucks

As a CRO Consultant, I have a lot of experience in improving our client's products.

So show me your website, and I'll give you at least one point to improve!

😄

Top comments (66)

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

benhalpern.com

** heavy breathing **

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Well, there are 2 things I can do here.

The first is to give a long rant about how there are so many issues on this page regarding performance, accessibility, SEO, network bandwidth, user experience, etc.

However, the thing to keep in mind is that the web is also supposed to be fun. Sara Vieira talks a lot about this and it's something I love to see in your website Ben. Thank you for putting a smile on my face 😄

spiderman

Collapse
 
rad_val_ profile image
Valentin Radu • Edited

I'm no expert, but I think it could use some more GIFs 😂

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I'll get right on it!

Collapse
 
fronkan profile image
Fredrik Sjöstrand

I love the privacy policy!

Collapse
 
jamesthomson profile image
James Thomson

This is amazing 😂 Reminds me of the first few websites I built back in the 90s...but mine had far more "under construction" gifs 🚧 which was very important at the time 😏

Collapse
 
leob profile image
leob

I lovvvvvvvvvvvve it ... was it built with love? :-)

Collapse
 
bugsysailor profile image
Bugsy Sailor
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Wow, this is a really neat and concise website. I'm having trouble trying to find things to hate on, but I do have 2 suggestions:

1 jQuery
jQuery

You're currently using an outdated version of jQuery. Be sure to keep this updated to make sure you get the best in terms of security features.

2 Current date
calendar

Your site is a breeze to use, but a cool feature (in my eyes) would be to highlight the image that matches with the current date. Maybe some kind of tooltip or border styling that emphasizes it

Collapse
 
bugsysailor profile image
Bugsy Sailor

Thanks! This is nice to get critical feedback as mostly I only hear back from friends/family who aren't involved in ux/ui/dev/design.

Collapse
 
rad_val_ profile image
Valentin Radu • Edited

Awesome site and awesome content. I've spotted 2 very small things if I may:

  1. The icon in the cart button is a bit off: it doesn't have enough padding and it touches the margins of the button. Also I think a bit too detailed for the otherwise super minimalist style <3
  2. The hover effect feels like loading and creates a bit of unrest (at least in my case, loading bars make me get into waiting mode, and it shouldn't be the case :) )
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Great feedback!

Thread Thread
 
rad_val_ profile image
Valentin Radu

Thanks! Yours too! I learned a couple of things in this thread!
Also, cool idea, I didn't thought roasting could be so much fun, effective and productive.

Collapse
 
moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

What. A. Great. Site.

It's brilliant.

Collapse
 
rahmanfadhil profile image
Rahman Fadhil

This is awesome! 🤩

Collapse
 
crimsonmed profile image
Médéric Burlet

mederic.me

I'm aware of the wrong image sizes and more on the other pages than the main one.
I did a few lighthouse report and noticed i need to work on accessibility:

lighthouse

But if you got some other feedback I'd be glad to hear it:

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Cool portfolio. The photography looks great! As you may already know, the file size of the images you're using is HUUUUGE. I'd definitely recommend compressing these. This will especially impact mobile users.

The other thing I noticed is that your contact form currently isn't working:
contact

Collapse
 
crimsonmed profile image
Médéric Burlet

Oh thanks for the captcha! will fix it asap!

Yeah I have already compressed and resized homepage images but still need to do the background and other pages so it loads very fast too haha.

Collapse
 
raunakhajela profile image
Raunak Hajela
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

All in all a very solid page! I noticed a few things:

1 Chat & Privacy
chat

A small usability bug. It seems like your chat functionality and reCaptcha Privacy are overlapping. Should be a simple fix, especially when this devalues the professional look of the website.

2 The team
person smiling

I could be wrong, and please correct me if I am, but there's a person in your team who's role is "Hitler". Now as we know, Hitler isn't a name that a company would want to be associated with. So I'd suggest removing this ASAP.

3 Lighthouse
Lighthouse report

last but not least is the Lighthouse report. There are a lot of things blocking the performance of the website. WordPress is really cool, but you're loading a ton of external scripts which will also run on the main thread of the user. Think about simplifying some of your features that are now externally loaded.

4 Testimonial Carousel
carousel

Currently, on the homepage, the testimonial carousel doesn't have any indication that the items are clickable. No hover state / arrows / etc. Testimonials are important to new clients and getting them to see more of them always works in your favor.

Collapse
 
moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

If you're going to hide one person's name because of its association, you should probably hide everyone's.

Thread Thread
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

It isn't their name, it's their role. I can't imagine any good reason to have someone working in your team with the role of Hitler.

Thread Thread
 
moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

Gotcha. I couldn't find that page when I looked at the site so I was making some sort of deliciously rash assumption.

Collapse
 
cydstumpel profile image
Cyd

I’m scared but here it goes: cydstumpel.nl/

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Hey Cyd! Really cool to see that you've worked for Pon. I currently do a lot of their CRO work, especially regarding the Volkswagen group. First up:

1 Case studies

case studies

You have some great case studies on your website which show some beautiful visuals, but what I'm currently missing is some more in-depth knowledge about how the project came to be, what steps you took to get to the end product, and maybe some next steps regarding the case. This would be a great way to clients a little more of your way of working and what they can expect of the process that is working with you.

2 Scroll Hijacking

scroll

A lot has already been said about scroll hijacking, and unless absolutely necessary, I would avoid using it on your website. There's an article I like that goes a little more into detail about it. Article here

Collapse
 
cydstumpel profile image
Cyd

Haha yes, but smooth scrolling just looks so much nicer😅
Thanks for the feedback Twan, maybe I'll see you at Pon sometime :)

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Starting of, this is a beautiful website. I can see you put a lot of attention to detail in every single corner of the pages. Everything looks great from animations to accessibility. There are two minor things that I think will improve the usability/experience of your website.

1 Navigation
navigation

The vertical navigation looks great, but my experience tells me that there's a reduced change of people using it accordingly when it doesn't meet their expectations. I'd recommend for it to be placed horizontally on top of the page.

2 A personal touch
contact

At the bottom of your page, you tell a little bit about yourself as a person. Something very important to do. I think this section could be greatly improved and add a little more personal connection by using a (professional) image of yourself.

Besides these small points, a great website! I'd love to see more of your articles on your own website 😄

Collapse
 
saramiteva profile image
Sara Miteva
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing Sara! This site looks great! A lot of attention to detail and all the information provided to the user is beautifully visualized.

homepage

One thing I noticed is an inconsistency in the button styling currently on the website. It seems like the white CTAs look like they are "raising" when a user hovers on them, while the green one actually "descends/lowers". A small tweak in my eyes.

Besides that, a great example of a SaaS company. I especially like the CTA changing on the homepage hero changing its action based on if the user is on mobile or desktop 😄

Collapse
 
saramiteva profile image
Sara Miteva

Thank you so much, Twan! Really appreciate it :)

Collapse
 
hougesen profile image
Mads Hougesen

I world love some feedback on my portfolio mhouge.dk, since I am planning on reworking it in the near future 😀

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder • Edited

Your site looks pretty good! Here are a few points I noticed:

1 The email contact
email

Currently, the text-link for your email opens itself in the email client of the user. Usually, a user prefers to have the email copied to their clipboard and pasting it in their own email client. There are some JS scripts/functions you can find online that do this.

2 Portfolio cases
cases

Three cases to show off is a great number, however, you currently only have 1 case study on your own page worked out for this. I would advise creating case studies for all the cases on your own site or move them all to Behance. Having them on your own site would improve SEO if done correctly, and will improve the chances of people finding your page.

3 Lighthouse report
lighthouse

Running a Lighthouse report shows a few little things you can work on. For example, be sure to give every anchor tag a discernible name. Besides that, be sure to use

font-display: swap;

when loading custom fonts using CSS. Read more about that here

Collapse
 
_alexdesign profile image
Alex • Edited

Would love to hear your thoughts: designlabsco.com

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing Alex! All in all, a very solid website.

lighthouse

Something I'd check is the Lighthouse scores that you can generate from the Chrome Dev Tools. Go check out their tips on improving your performance (by, for example, compressing your images) to upgrading your accessibility (by, for example, adding discernible names to your anchor tags)

Collapse
 
_alexdesign profile image
Alex

Thank you!

Collapse
 
thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt ☕

I'm ready, this is not my final website version but for waiting the next.

🎈 Thomasbnt.fr

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing your website Thomas!

I can't say a lot about the purpose and content of the webpage because it is in French, so I'll talk a little about the design.

homepage

More than half of the page is currently filled with, if I say this correctly, a random image pulled from Unsplash. Why is this? Does this image add any value in terms of information or presentational value? If this isn't the case, I'd think about removing it and using this space to better present the copy that you're showing. Maybe add some more breathing space between the sections and centre the content.

Collapse
 
thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt ☕

Oh yeah, I tell you for the random 📸 from Unsplash, because I really like this website and it is part of my daily visit like on DEV. 😁

For the concent, I've already thought of centering everything but leaving it on the right because I thought it was classic.

Collapse
 
adrianbdesigns profile image
Adrian Bece • Edited

Cool idea.! I'm looking into revamping my portfolio site and fixing issues, so I'm open to suggestions. Can't wait to hear your thoughts. Cheers!

codeadrian.github.io/

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Cool website to show off your work and writing! Couple of things I noticed:

1 Work carousel
Carousel

You're currently using a carousel on your homepage to show off your work. However, there's currently no other way to navigate it except the "dots" at the bottom. Think of adding a sliding feature or make the cases clickable.

2 email
email

Currently, the text-link for your email opens itself in the email client of the user. Usually, a user prefers to have the email copied to their clipboard and pasting it in their own email client. There are some JS scripts/functions you can find online that do this.

Collapse
 
adrianbdesigns profile image
Adrian Bece

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions!

Collapse
 
corentinbettiol profile image
Corentin Bettiol

Thanks for the offer!

Here's my super lightweight vanilla php and css website: l3m.in

Collapse
 
gkhan205 profile image
Ghazi Khan
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing Ghazi! Really cool page, especially the blog.

blog

One point of improvement I noticed, is that on a blog post, all the share functionalities overlap the main content if the viewport is between 769px - 1218px.

Collapse
 
gkhan205 profile image
Ghazi Khan

Thanks Twan, for giving your time to review my website. I'll fix this :)

Collapse
 
jethromay profile image
Jethro May
Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing your website, Jethro! All in all, it looks very clean.

Something I noticed though, is that you're currently showing all your blog posts on the homepage and also on the "posts" page. Currently, the "posts" page doesn't add any extra features or functionality to the user. Think about showing less (maybe 3) posts on your homepage, or completely remove the "posts" page if you want to show all posts on the homepage

posts

Collapse
 
jethromay profile image
Jethro May

Very true, thanks for looking at it will address that. :)

Collapse
 
krrish96 profile image
Sai Krishna • Edited

Mine mine

saikrishna.dev

Collapse
 
toktoktwan profile image
Twan Mulder

Thanks for sharing your website!

The thing that I noticed first, is that you're hiding your footer on the homepage of your website. Currently, there's no way of knowing or any incentive for the user to scroll on your homepage. You footer, however, does enable some important functionality of the page. Think about making it more visible, or incentivizing the user to scroll.

homepage

Collapse
 
krrish96 profile image
Sai Krishna

Thank you for the feedback

I will update the page