The worst UX and UI errors you’re probably making

Distilled from thousands of hours analyzing websites for some of the world’s top brands, here are the UI and UX issues you should fix right now…

SessionCam
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

When any of these user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) errors show up on your website, it’s bad news for your conversion rates. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Here are the issues you most need to look out for…

The User Interface mistakes you don’t want to make:

Further reading:

  • Fixed-width sites
  • Unresponsive layouts
  • Lack of device compatibility
  • Text-heavy UI leading to information overload
  • No flow to page layout so your message feels disjointed and unclear.
  • Poor choice of CMS e.g. shoehorning WordPress into shape for a high value corporate site
  • Links that aren’t available on the main navigation, forcing visitors to go to a specific page to access them
  • Mystery navigation — links that give visitors no idea where they’ll be taken
  • Messy menus with too many options
  • Weak or hidden calls to action
  • Image buttons containing text
  • Guerrilla links — links that look like text in a paragraph without any underlining or color differentiation
  • Dueling scrollbars — more than one scrollbar on a page. This is particularly heinous with horizontal scrolls
  • Forcing visitors to click menu items to reveal sub-menus rather than hovering
  • Error dungeons — unhelpful error pages without an obvious route out
  • Tasteless burgers — burger menus on a desktop website unnecessarily hiding navigation

Recommended reading:

  • Clashing colors with no thought to contrast
  • The repulsive rainbow —you’re using too many colors
  • Poor color choices
  • Bad typography including font size, font choice, line spacing, kerning and paragraph length
  • Inappropriate use of animation
  • Inconsistency — style guides are your friend
  • Lack of white-space
  • Excessive use of imagery
  • Obvious stock images
  • Pop up windows
  • Misuse of Adobe Flash

Recommended reading:

User Experience errors that should make you cringe:

  • Unsupported devices
  • Confusing or broken navigation
  • Problematic purchase processes
  • It takes longer than 3 clicks to find what you’re looking for
  • Lack of a search facility
  • Buried products
  • People of all abilities aren’t able to use your site
  • Pages take too long to load causing frustration and increasing bounce rates
  • The mobile version of your website is hard to use
  • Your site, products or purchasing process looks untrustworthy
  • The purchasing process is not secure
  • Your adverts are disguised as content
  • You rely on dark design patterns or other devious tactics

Recommended reading:

  • Lack of help and support information
  • Poor process for resolving UX and UI issues

Recommended reading:


You can find and fix UI and UX issues faster with SessionCam. Try it for free now.

What clicks? A publication from SessionCam.

New ideas on UX, customer experience and behavioral analytics

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SessionCam

Written by

Understanding your online visitors doesn’t need to be a guessing game. http://www.sessioncam.com

What clicks? A publication from SessionCam.

New ideas on UX, customer experience and behavioral analytics

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