Nominee for worst website #2

Websites are meant to convey information. Sure, they can also be pretty and neat and cool and all, but above all else, their major purpose - the conveyance of information - should not be lost.

In the past, I have ranted against Chipotle's website because it's neat but has loads of features that actually make it harder to get information out of their site rather. Don't get me wrong, I dig Chipotle's food and their willingness to give to their community. I just hate their website.

Today's rant is about another tragically craptacular website, that of Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

First there's the annoying requirement that the site launch automatically to fill my entire screen when the actual content only takes up about a quarter of my screen's resolution.

Second, there are a number of pointless animations that go on within the screen - butterflies, spiders, general crap - that draw the eye from whatever content is actually being focused upon.

Next there's the fact that the site uses mystery meat navigation. I have no clue what's going to happen when I click on the hairbrush or the wristwatch, or the cell phone, or the diary, or the business card, or whether any of those things are actually clickable until I roll over them. One thing - the eraser, for example - even shows a question mark upon roll over, confounding me even further.

The glasses point to the links page. The hair brush toward the extras page - whatever the heck that's for.

I know Rowling is a creative person (or at least assume she is - I enjoy her books and would rather think that she's writing great stories out of creativity rather than our of some cold, calculating plan to simply harvest great boatloads of cash), but that does not give her license to hire somebody and encourage them to create a website that does little more than confound.

So, nominee for worst website #2, J.K.Rowling Official Site.

Congrats, JK, your site sucks.