Stuff That Bugs Me on Web Pages

Wandering about on the web recently in order to present a nice collection of eclectic links has reminded me of many of the things I hate to see on web pages. Please, if you have any consideration for the general 'net populace, take these things to heart. Most of them are just common sense...

• Forced music samples: Whenever I see that "Processing Music File" show up at the bottom of my Netscape window, I groan. Music really slows down my computer, as it will for most. Please, if you want music on your page, make it an option to download it to listen to it.
• Excessive GIF animation: Yes yes, we've all seen that nifty little fire jump around, thanks, but now it's old. Plus the fact that most of them keep reloading. It's just plain annoying.
• Excessive graphics in general: Especially large ones. Unless your connection runs at the speed of light or faster, and you're sitting on a nice mainframe, all those splashy images will make for a tedious wait to view your page.
• A lack of text-link alternatives: Let's forget the fact right now that many people still use Lynx, but the fact is if you're so stuck on image links, it probably means that your page is graphic-heavy, forcing people with slower connections to browse with images turned off, or hit "Stop" before they finish loading. If you have no text links to make up for this, it can really be a pain.
• Pointless Javascript: There are a few things you see all of the time that everyone seems to think is splashy or cool, but really become annoying. One is that Javascript fade, the other is the little scrolling message at the bottom of the browser window. That scroll pisses me off more, though, because once the fade is done, it's done, and is actually cool the first time you see it. If it's not clear where a link goes, I like to hold the cursor over it and read the destination at the bottom of the browser. If that scroll is there, I have to keep redoing this. Plus, those scrolls are generally pretty slow, and I don't have the patience to sit there and wait for some pointless message to scroll across the bottom.
• Pointless Java: Most of the Java you see is utterly pointless. This plus the fact that it takes a long time to load can really make for a slow and aggravating browsing experience. Just Say No.
• Frames: Ooooo...okay, frames may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but, let's face it, most of them are utterly unnecessary. You can get the same effect with tables or even just shoving links at the bottom. What's the big deal, you may ask. Well, essentially, each frame is a separate page, they're just shown in one window. So, if you have three frames on a page, that just means that the page will take three times as long to load than if you didn't have them there. Unless it is utterly imperative that you have frames, don't use them.
• Non-matching backgrounds and text: You'd think that this would be obvious, yet I still see pages that have text that is impossible to read because of the choice of background or background color. This goes into the Common Sense pile--look at your page as if you didn't know already what was written there...if it's even a little hard to read it, change it.
• Consoles: Don't force anything on me! I generally close them before they even load. In philosophy, it's similar to the music samples issue.

Well, that's all that leaps to mind right now. If I recall or discover anything else, don't worry, I'll add it to here. ;)