Watch out for common usability problems

Here’s a great article from the Smashing Magazine that brings up 10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of.

It’s more than likely been published on a few well-known websites so no doubt I’m not the first but I still think it’s worth flagging this article up again as it highlights some important pitfalls.

Anyway, here are the problems mentioned in the article:

1. Hidden log-in link
2. Pop-ups for content presentation
3. Dragging instead of vertical navigation
4. Invisible links
5. Visual noise
6. Dead end
7. Content blocks layering upon each other
8. Dynamic navigation
9. Drop-Down Menus
10. Blinking images

Here are a few more problems that are common and make many websites harder and more annoying to use than they have to be:

• Low contrast text
• Small text that can’t be resized
• Small text that can be resized, but doing so causes content to disappear
• Preventing or breaking normal browser functionality like mouse-wheel scrolling, printing, and bookmarking
• Over-designed forms

This list certainly isn’t exhaustive so by all means please add to this post.