$frustrated = true;
while ($frustrated) {
echo “HELP!”
}
In any profession, you’ll experience minor annoyances regularly. Chefs have to cook for customers who come in at the closing time, photographers have to deal with children who won’t stop crying, secretaries have to work with double bookings, and truck drivers have to put up with bad drivers (well, don’t we all?)
With that being said, us web designers, developers, and programmers have plenty of pet peeves that we have to try not to grit our teeth at daily. Everything from horribly outdated design trends to coding frustrations to plain old posture issues. Let’s go into more detail.
Pet Peeves in Coding
1. Poorly indented code
Nothing drives a coder crazier than poorly formatted code. More specifically: poorly indented code. Everyone has their style of indentation. There’s even an argument out there about tabs versus spaces (I’m a tabs kind of girl). Some people say it’s whatever the IDE (integrated development environment, such as Sublime Text or Dreamweaver) default is. Whatever the case may be, a lack of proper formatting can make code extremely unorganized and confusing. You don’t know perfection until you see perfectly indented code.
2. Lack of or bad comments in code
“Good code is self-documenting.”
This is a heavily used phrase in the world of developing and programming. Using comments in your code ensures organization and clarity. Comments can be used to label a section of code or to describe how to use a line of code. Comments can also easily be overused. Don’t use a comment when you can use a method or variable. Don’t be redundant with your comments and only use comments where necessary. Your code should otherwise be all the documentation you need.
3. Crashes and debugging
Have you ever worked on something for hours, only for it to ultimately not work? When writing code, something as simple as forgetting an end bracket or a semicolon can crash everything you’ve worked on. Trying to find such a minute mistake can take hours of problem-solving.
4. Working with another person’s code
Everyone has their own way of doing things. Working with someone else’s process can sometimes be exasperating. Trying to work with code that isn’t your own means getting accustomed to someone else’s code structure and organization. Trying to correct errors in another person’s code can prove to be infinitely more difficult than if you were to correct in your own code.
5. Coding for multiple and/or outdated Internet browsers and OSs
It’s just a part of the game, coding for browsers like an old version of Internet Explorer or keeping up with the new iOS. It’s important to stay up to speed with every browser and OS requirement, whether it’s a brand-new version or an extremely outdated version.
Pet Peeves in Design
6. Outdated Websites
There’s nothing like landing on a website you’ve never been to before and seeing it’s stuck in 1999. Back when tables and Flash were the Internet standard, we thought it was cool. But keeping up to date with the ever-evolving web and design standards is crucial. No one likes Flash. Seriously.
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7. Aggressive pop-ups
Ever get to a website that immediately asks you to subscribe to their newsletter? And if your cursor goes anywhere near the close tab button, it asks you AGAIN? This is something that belongs in r/assholedesign. These kinds of pop-ups are not only irritating but can be a huge factor in a visitor never revisiting a website.
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8. Autoplay videos
Anytime I try to read an article on a news website, there is ALWAYS a video that starts to play without me ever giving it permission to. These kind of autoplay videos feel both invasive and just plain annoying. Of course, there are appropriate applications for autoplay. Such as a homepage hero video or if you’re watching videos on YouTube.
9. Splash pages
Splash pages are just another outdated design trend. You click on a link to read an article on Forbes.com and instead of bringing you to the page, Forbes instead brings you to a splash page with their “Quote of the Day” and a “continue to site” link. Why? Just why? Content in this day and age needs to be easily digestible, not pages of unwanted quotes before I consume the content I actually wanted to consume. For this reason alone, Forbes is a rarely visited site for me.
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10. Poor font choices
I’ve made jokes about poor font choices before, such as Papyrus in my blog post “Better Off Dead: 10 Outdated Web Design Trends We’re Happy to Forget.” Font choice says a lot about your design philosophy, whether it’s using something as simple and elegant as Roboto or making a joke of yourself using Comic Sans. Make the right choice.
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11. Generic stock photography
There are a time and place for generic stock photographs, and that is generally only in textbooks. There’s a very good chance you’ve seen some of the same stock photography in a variety of places. It looks cheap, unoriginal, uncreative, and uninspired. With the stock resources we have today, such as on Adobe Stock or Unsplash, there’s no reason to stay inside the realm of generic stock. If you want to take it a step further, check out r/wtfstockphotos.
Pet Peeves in the Process
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12. Multiple revisions
Of course, when coding and/or designing for a client, there will always be one or two revisions. A color tweak here or a rearrangement of content there is totally normal. But when you get your 8th email asking for a revision, you have to stop your hand from twitching to pull your hair out.
13. Sitting all day
This is applicable to basically any job behind a desk, but especially so for those who write code. Coders can spend hours writing hundreds of lines of code and not want to get up and distract themselves from their focus. This can lead to back pain and poor posture. Really, all desk-sitters should just hang out on an exercise ball or invest in a standing desk.
At the end of the day, pet peeves are just minor annoyances that you forget about the second you get home to your couch. Nevertheless, they’re something everyone has to put up with day in and day out. Hopefully most of you with these experiences have a good way to mediate them or at least have a good stress ball at your desk.
- Can you relate to any of these pet peeves, whether or not you’re in design or development?
- What else would you add to this list of pet peeves?
- What are your opinions on the conventional office chair versus exercise balls or standing desks?
