Sometimes websites are just so darn ugly. You have to wonder what they were thinking about when they slapped it together. However, if you want users to take an interest in your website you can learn from all the mistakes of previous website admins.

While it might be a bit ugly below, every website is a goldmine of information on how not to design a website. When you put together the lessons, you can determine the best way to design your own site. Use these recommendations and opt for custom WordPress website development to ensure your source is on the “TOP Best”, not “TOP Worst”.

List of 25 Ugly Websites

1. The Big Ugly Website

This site was designed by a web designer to show you exactly what not to do in a website. Start by looking at all of the funky motion graphics. They make you want to leave the site the instant you get there.

Next, examine the atrocious yellow background mixed in with a lot of red text. This is a classic no-no for websites. This combination makes it harder to see the text.

Finally, evaluate the mismatched boxes that overlap each other and the nonsensical content. Put it all together, and as the website url states you have a big, ugly website.

2. The World’s Worst Website

Another site created to emphasize the worst design traits. Notice the beautiful stars in the yellow highlighted section that make you feel like 1994 is back.

The block text is another nice add-on for people who might struggle to read what you have on your website.

Next, you have to appreciate the useless purple box on the right hand side. A good reminder that you can remove content on your site that does not serve a purpose. Especially if distracts from your goals.

Finally, look at the background. The image was not large enough for the site dimensions, so they made it a tiled background. That makes it seem like they have no clue how to design their website.

3. DesignZ23

When a website design site is this ugly you just need to wonder.

How in the world can they sell themes and website designs to their clients? It is bad enough that many of the sites listed here are just plain ugly. However, when someone packages that ugliness for other websites to buy, DesignZ23 takes it to another level.

4. Thorn Ford Dental Laboratory

When your website has nothing below the navigation tab, it is not a good sign. A large obnoxious Facebook button above the fold is not necessary either.

Finally, saying “Welcome to” is a waste of website space. Use that instead to talk about the benefits of the website.

5. Bone & Joint Center

Perhaps they could add an uglier flash header. You might not be able to tell from the image, but the flashing header may cause seizures before the repair your bones and joints.

Plus, not exactly sure what the benefit is of having an image of cafeteria at the top of the page.

Finally, the website has too much information to figure out what your next steps should be on the site.

6. Arngren

The benefit of an ecommerce site is you can display a number of different products to customers. However, stuffing as many products as possible on a page screams we just want your money.

Not something you want to convey in an age where 90% of consumers check reviews of your website before purchasing.

From a conversion standpoint this website is a disaster. Consider the famous study by Columbia University on how buyers purchase different flavors of jam through a tasting.

This was done live to two separate groups. One group was shown 24 flavors of jam. Another presented with 6 flavors. At the end of the sample, they were asked if they wanted to purchase. Only 3% of people presented with 24 flavors purchased.

Conversely, those presented with only 6 flavors converted at a rate of 30%. Sometimes too much choice can be detrimental to your closing rate.

To put this in context, there are close to 50 products listed on this ecommerce site. If 24 flavors converted at 3%, how much poorer is the conversion rate for Arngren?

7. Internet Archeology

Random flashing images with the no purpose, navigation, and very little text. Load the page from the start to see the worthless scroll of images. You gotta love the stars and spinning crosses.

8. Jamilin

If it were just the multi-colored navigation bar than this site might not be that bad. However, add in a header that is all over the place and you start to see the problem with the site.

Keep in mind this site helps people keep harmony in their life through Feng Shui. Yet, the owners feel cluttering the header conveys that message?

9. Rudgwick Steamshow

The animated gif with the highlighting circles is a great touch. The fact that this is for an engineering show makes you wonder what type of engineering tools are displayed at the 30th Rudgwick Country Show.

10. Penny Juice

What could be better than comic sans fonts, multi-colored rainbows tabs, and a worn penny that has nothing to do with the rest of the website.

Still not sure what Penny Juice is exactly.

11. Gates N Fences

While they do have a few images, Gates N Fences is way too text heavy.

Visuals are processed 60,000x faster than text in your brain. The sheer volume of text displayed here makes it hard to process any of that information.

12. Ugly Tub

Not sure what a crazed woman screaming has to do with bath tubs, but heck! Let’s go with it! It is not as if the website is as ugly as the tubs. Hm!

Side note: The guy falling in the tub is a great visual for bath safety.

13. Mortimer Lumber

Nothing says quality lumber like an overcrowded website portal. Even better, click on the website link to see how the box on the left flashes and distracts you from the products they sell.

14. Media Tek

While not the ugliest site on the list, what exactly do they do? Their parallax site does not explain the services they provide until halfway down the page.

15. Serene Naturist

Do beautiful animated butterflies make you have a craving for a massage?

If not, what about a naked roman statue? Serene-Naturist is for a massage parlor, so I am not sure if naked women is the correct message for your prospective clients.

16. Super Video

If ugly moving graphics and stroke inducing backgrounds are your cup of tea, then you should check out Super Video.

Based on the text on the website, they provide valuable information…I think! That is part of the problem with this website. No clear value to the site.

17. P&M computers, Inc

Do you remember the pointless intro screens a lot of websites used to use. Meet the most pointless intro screen ever designed.

The load time here is extremely slow, and when it finally does load you basically see their logo. Why not put that in the header, and get rid of this page altogether.

18. Richards Brothers Seafoods

When you think of purchasing fish products, do you look for a navigation bar that blocks your product images? Hopefully not!

19. Rush Biddies

Nothing attracts college girls looking to rush for a sorority like an outdated website that is not even mobile optimized. Text heavy websites for a generation growing up on YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat is not going to pass muster.

20. Imprint Technologies

Technology companies that have a mismatched scrolling feature, and out of place backgrounds generally inspire confidence.

Next add in some really ugly colors. A little green mixed with yellow with a background of silver is far from ideal.

Finally, just want to bring up the scrolling feature one more time. Unlike most websites where the scrolling feature is on the side of the website, the scrolling feature here covers the middle of the page.

That indicates a few things. First of all, the website is not optimized for mobile devices. Second, the site is not oriented right. Over time, this could mean the website can break down. Third, it looks unprofessional.

21. Centre for Interdisciplinary Artefact Studies

Looking to show off your archeological finds to the world? Then you might want to consider not using a flash website that moves around as you look at the items.

Google officially stated that flash websites do not get indexed. Therefore, this is a perfectly good waste of a site. Secondly, it is annoying to look at the artefacts as that move while you look at them.

On a positive note, at least the background has a lot of white (black) space.

22. Chester Tourist

Another example of a navigation bar that gone wrong. Your navigation bars should be one line, and one line only. Otherwise, they are off-putting.

Plus, if you are marketing a tourist spot, then you need to ensure your website is visually appealing.

23. Bear Springs Blossom

This is a non-profit website to encourage environmental change. While the website is clear in their intent, the oval image of the smokestack with a thermometer does not inspire climate change.

24. The Register

We mentioned earlier how too much text can be overwhelming. Welcome to another example of this. The other problem is that the text is so tightly packed together it makes it hard to distinguish specific articles.

While the content on the website might be great, breaking up content into smaller pieces can make it more readable. This is cram it down your throat obnoxious.

25. The Slide Rule Universe

Do you remember when slide rules were cool? It must have been a time well before Slide Rule Universe created this dreadful website.

While you can almost forgive a site for creating an outdated website design when selling an archaic tool, this site is just not user-friendly. The ecommerce design below the image is hard to follow. You do not get a good sense of what you are purchasing.

Plus, the addition of the Twitter button looks like they just stuck it into the middle of the website without caring how it would look.

Finally, the scariest thing is that they last updated the website on August 16, 2015. Based on the look, you would think that would be August 16, 1995.

Final Thoughts

Why do we show you ugly websites? Is it to make your eyes hurt?

No! As we mentioned earlier, ugly websites are lessons in what you can do differently to ensure your website looks better and works better than the ones shown above.

Look at the elements of each website, and how they negatively impact their ability to drive traffic and sales. Then start creating a plan to make your website without any of these nagging elements.