It’s important to recognize when a website is intentionally tacky or basic and when it’s just plane bad UI design. What really matters is how user-friendly your website UI design is. To provide the best UX for your users, it’s important to always test them first.

In this post, we’ll look at some examples of popular websites with bad UI design.

Here are some examples of when bad UI design works and when it doesn’t

1. CNN

CNN has the bad UI design. The popular US news channel has a clean and simple UI that mimics a newspaper and lets the user focus on the important stories of the day. But that experience is downgraded with the auto play feature of ads and videos on news stories.

This immediate auto playing without warning can be bad UI design. Imagine going to read a story about international conflict only to then start hearing an audio about any product and having to scroll back up above the fold to find the video to stop or mute it?

Apart from this, visually impaired people who use screen readers to consume web content may have difficulties reading out content aloud if an auto play video or audio starts without their prompting.

Despite this bad UI design element, however, it still remains a highly renowned and popular news channel website which makes us think they should try and fix this error to lead by example.

2. Reddit

The self-styled front page of Reddit doesn’t look that special on the surface. From a creative point of view could be considered bad UI design, there are many things it does get right.

There is ample space dedicated to the content. Reddit is driven by user generated content.

It’s also minimal, which works largely in Reddit’s favor; with so much content it would be nigh on impossible to create a system that could accommodate so many users. It might look a little rough around the edges, but simplicity is what plays a big role in why Reddit is so successful.

Reddit doesn’t have to be about bad UI design though. Subreddits benefit from customizable CSS, giving you the freedom to spruce up the UI if you want.

3. Amazon

Amazon’s been in the online retail game since the early 90s. What was a humble online bookstore is now one of the world’s tech giants. But it’s UI leaves a little to be desired. In fact, some designers might even consider it to be bad UI design.

Amazon uses a carousel, which has been known to divide opinions within the UX design community. Users can often scroll right by a carousel, even if it has the best offers in town. But, if Amazon is one thing, it’s consistent and the homepage usually has between three to four carousels on the go. Thankfully, when you’re making your own designs, there are alternatives to experiment with.

A small UI change could cost Amazon millions and there’s a chance expensive tweaks might not improve profit or usability. Sometimes when it comes to bad UI, if it ain’t broke — don’t fix it.

4. Drudge Report

Visit most news websites. Drudge Report is no different in that sense. You get bold headlines and you get imagery, but you also get a web experience that takes minimalism to a whole new level.

It’s been around since 1996 and still contains the out-of-date HTML to prove it. But Drudge Report tells us what design it isn’t — it isn’t flashy buttons and or hero images or even — gasp — responsive design! And despite the seemingly lazy or bad UI design, it still remains hugely popular.

What makes Drudge Report’s UX design so special is the freedom to choose what to read. All the text, links and headlines are formatted in the same manner so no one story is given preference over another. This means the user is free to scan the website on their own time and make the decision to read what interests them most.

Conclusion

UX designers must keep in mind that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and bad UI design can still be good UX. And while some of the websites above may be stripped back and minimal, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have bad UI designs. The majority of them have simply maintained their original UIs — which at the time were precisely what the internet was ready for.

However, extremely minimalist, maximalist, old fashioned or just plain bad UI design doesn’t necessarily equal good UX either — quite the opposite. The best rule of thumb to follow is to keep things original, keep them functional, and always create UI designs with the user in mind.