Pop-Ups
I start with the no brainer of all time. Like most of my hates there are exceptions when they might be used but rare is the case successfully made for the use of browsers that open unexpectedly.

If it were a mere annoyance I might learn to live with it but Pop-Ups notoriously ruin navigation and have browser controls (such as the address box) removed.

Underlined Text
Have you ever clicked on text that was underlined because you thought it was a link? I have and it usually makes me feel foolish.

Unless you absolutely can distinguish underlined text from your links so that it couldn't possibly confuse a user like me then don't use the U tag. I know that creates a problem when you need to refer to the title of a book.

Poor Multimedia Controls
When an audio and/or video presentation starts is there a way to shut if off? A way to pause, rewind or forward the content? Does it play in a continuous loop? In our world of CD/DVD players, tape machines and similar devices we've come to expect control over how multimedia content is presented.

Why shouldn't we have the same controls when we're online?

Redirects
Specifically, I have in mind client side redirects, that is, pages which load for a few seconds only to move you automatically, without your control or consent, to another page. This technique is frequently used when the site owner wants the user to see content that replaces content no longer on the site.

There are better ways (like server side redirects) to fill the need to move your user to a page other than the one requested.

Splash Pages
People who use a Splash Page for their site probably have no idea that many of their visitors will not take in their first view of the site from the Splash (or Entrance Page). So why do it?

In a web site, every page is an entrance page. You have no control over which page is first seen by a user.

Besides, frequently Splash Pages contain no content which can be catalogue by search engines thereby wasting a golden opportunity to leverage everything from an "index.html" file.

Graphical Text
Speaking of search engines, using graphical text will definitely impede your ability to be found on the net. Such text cannot be "seen" by the spiders which traverse servers to collect information about your pages. The only information they can pick up and understand is HTML/XHTML text. An image which contains a lot of text is invisible to search engine technology.

Not to mention that people who are blind or visually impaired won't like it either (unless you make use of the "alt" attribute).

Bad Navigation
I mean navigation which is unexpected, inconsistent and poorly placed. If the links are all over the lot, if each page requires that I go looking for the link that I saw in a different location on another page - if I just can't figure out where I am in your site - that's part of what I mean by bad navigation.

Me no like that and it's a guarantee for an early departure from a site.

Under Construction
Most of us have gotten away from the ritual of wasting our visitors' time taking us to a page which is "under construction." We don't care if a page is under construction. Just don't; take us there.

Counters, Guest Books And Validation Stickers
I think all of these are, for lack of a better word, web garbage.

1. Nobody cares how many people have seen a page. (But that doesn't negate the value of web metrics, something every site owner must pay attention to.)

2. Guest Books. C'mon. When was the last you signed one? Have no idea why RYZE or anyone uses them.

3. Stickers (images) that say a page meets this or that standard. Who cares? Just do it. You don't have to tell us. And many of the pages that have such stickers do not meet the standards that they claim to meet.

Time Outs
I know there are valid reasons to have pages time out but I just don't like it. I don't like to have to repeat something I've already done just because something timed out.

Frames
I saved the worst for last and no doubt there are those of you who will point to appropriate uses of Frames. Of course, that's fine with me.

I just can't stand the lack of an exposed, unique URL in the address bar when you navigate a framed site.

How do you tell people where to go in a framed site when referring to a specific page? Here's the email text of telling someone to go to "About Us." (which in itself is a bad idea for content - but that's for another day).

"Go to my home page. Then click on the about us link which is at the bottom right hand site of the page."
Rather than just give them the URL of the page that they can click on from their email

And of course, search engine spiders choke on framed sites - or at least many of them do.