Love hate relationship

# Thinking about the ease of use in accessing World Wide Web pages, name ten things you hate most about the Web. How could they be improved?

1. Sites with useless content.
Despite advances in search technology, it is still annoying when a site is listed near the top of search results because it has seo tweaking rather than useful content.

2. Obtrusive advertising.
Pop-up ads are bad enough, even worse are the new ones that slide across the page in front of the article you are trying to read. I always close them straight away without even studying them. What is the purpose there anyway? to attract attention or to deliberately annoy?

3. Pages that play audio automatically.
Particularly the ones that seem to use up a lot of memory and nearly crash your browser. Midis are so old hat they instantly date a site.

4. Java applets.
See above point about using memory and crashing browser (maybe I need to update my computer?). Unless I deliberately want to open a java applet I don't want to be forced to wait for it to finish loading on my screen just so I can browse away.

5. Sucky web page design - horrible colours, imagery, typography.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but some sites are so badly designed that you just want to abandon them at once before your eyes start bleeding.

6. Bad navigation.
Not being able to find your way around a site is just bad, bad, bad.

7. Browser incompatibility.
Amazing how many big banking sites are just getting to grips with the fact there are other browsers besides Internet Explorer.

8. 404 page errors.
How annoying is it when you find reference to a page that seems to be just what you're looking for - and it no longer exists.

9. Links that force page to open in new window.
There is no reason to do this, it is particularly irrelevant when tabbed browsing is a feature of most modern browsers.

10. Excessive use of frames.
Any more than two or three frames is just overkill.

I think most of these things would be improved with greater consideration towards site design, the audience and their purpose for seeking the site. Sites like Internet Archive are a boon as far as preserving valuable content, since there is not much that can be done about web sites dropping off over time. With certain sites (see point 5 above) this is a blessing.

# What are five things you love about the Web? Why? Think of things that make it easy for you to enjoy what you want on the Web.

1. Search engines
Google is my friend. I love being able to find useful reference to any conceivable thing. Search engines have come a long way from years ago, as they endeavour to increase their usefulness and produce relevant results, search technology has really advanced.

2. Virtuality
I love the convenience of a shared platform unbounded by physical barriers. I can be sending off a work submission by email and chatting to a new contact in Ireland while dressed in my pyjamas at 3 o'clock in the morning.

3. Opportunity
The flow and accessibility of information creates so much opportunity for those who want to grasp it - opportunities for learning, employment, social interaction and business.

4. Community
Various factors combine to create a virtual community, it is a fantastic way to share ideas and meet people.

5. Design
The Web is gradually evolving into a more beautiful place, sucky page designs seem to be turning into a thing of the past.