9 reasons I leave your blog or site without coming back

I've been meaning to post this for ages, but I just keep forgetting. And it's not exactly anything to do with crafting. However, it does have a lot to do with blogging and this is a blog and stuff, so I guess there's the link.

You may not agree with me on what I say below, and may be thinking "who does she think she is?" Well, I think I am someone with atleast a bit of common sense, that's who. Plus, I've been blogging for 6 years, visited more blogs and sites on any kind of subject than you can shake a stick at. Oh yeah, and my education is also in this very area, so I think I know just a wee tiny bit of what I'm talking about. ;-)

Please don't take this as personal criticism, I am not out to get anyone. I do hope that maybe it will be of help to you. Anyway, here we go. Oh yeah, this is the first in a series of 3 posts on this topic. Ye be warned.

1. Music that starts when the page loads and is either impossible to turn off or it's impossible to find the controls to turn off.

2. If your website resizes my browser window, I'm not even going to bother with you.

3. Does visiting your actual content requite opening another browser window? Honestly, I am usually working with an image program, vector program, a couple of folders, my browser and maybe even a music player - I don't need another window open, so I'm closing yours and not coming back.

4. Please don't have internal links on your site open in another window or browser tab. It is illogical, not neccessary and annoying.

5. If you've got lots of pop ups or pop unders, guess what? Bye bye.

6. Got a snazzy Flash intro that lasts half an hour? Good for you, but I really don't care. If you absolutely insist on having this, make sure it is clear how I can skip it. But really, just scrap it altogether

7. Oh yeah, in a similar vein, if your whole site is designed in Flash, I really can't be bothered with it. It slows down my browser. And it's like shooting yourself in the leg with a very pretty gun, because sites like Google can't search is properly. But then, maybe you are not interested in being searchable. I can't link directly to cool stuff on your site either so I can't spread the good word about you.

8. Using a multitude of banners and graphics on your site? Just don't - it hurts my eyes and I need them to view blogs that don't make my eyes feel like I've been staring into the sun for hours on end.

9. Don't make me scroll for half an hour to get to the actual content. Make sure there is something interesting 'above the fold' or I might miss it altogether.