Web is a constantly changing medium, so does web design. Designers like to experiment from time to time. Some of the results may be attractive, but do they really add to the overall value of a design, or are they there just to decrease usability? I believe the latter is true for the following five design decisions.

网站是一种不断变化的媒体，所以网站设计也在不断变化。网站设计者喜欢尝试新的设计元素，结果可能会使网站更具有吸引力，但是否增加了网站设计的整体价值呢？或者说网站可用性是否因此而降低呢？

1. Automatically Maximized Windows:
窗口自动最大化

Some web sites particularly the ones designed with Flash, have a habit of maximizing the browser window without bothering to ask first. Some even disable the browser menu bar and other Windows controls including the task bar, so the only thing you would see on your screen is the fabulous Flash web design. No, thanks.

某些网站，尤其是利用Flash 设计的网站，喜欢在未被用户允许的情况下，把浏览器窗口最大化。有些网站甚至使浏览器菜单栏与Windows控制系统（包括任务栏）失去功能，用户只能在计算机屏幕中浏览奇怪的Flash。这种情况一定要避免，谢谢。

If you want to exit from a web site using automatically maximized windows, you usually have only one option: the infamous Alt+F4. But how many new PC users really know that? Even if you are an experienced user, it may get really annoying if you prefer to surf the web with a regular-size browser window. Every time a web site maximizes the browser window, you have to return it to its original size by hand. It is even more annoying for web designers like me who are using a standard 800 x something (e.g. 800 x 1000 pixels) window to see how others' and their own web designs look like in the most widely used screen resolution.

用户只有利用Alt+F4才能退出自动最大化窗口，但是有多少PC用户了解这个快捷方式呢？即使是经验丰富的网站用户，如果喜欢标准尺寸的浏览器窗口，也会对此感到厌烦。浏览器窗口最大化以后，用户需要自己调整为原始尺寸。使用标准的800x“某数字”屏幕分辨率（比如：800x1000像素）的用户更会对浏览器窗口最大化感到厌烦。

2. Pixel Fonts:
像素字体

Pixel fonts have quickly become popular because the Flash player cannot render small types right. It almost always anti-aliases text regardless of type size, therefore in small type sizes text becomes fuzzy and hardly readable. The solution is using specially designed pixel fonts that do not require anti-aliasing as the standard TrueType fonts. Pixel fonts, despite the name, are not bitmap fonts like FixedSys (Windows) or Chicago (Mac); they are technically TrueType fonts. But since they were designed to be used only in small type sizes such as 8, 9 or 10 points, the designers of pixel fonts avoid using curves, and rely on rectangular blocks.
Until this point, everything sounds fine. Designers are happy because not only their fonts look crisp in Flash, but their designs have that neat robotic style which became synonymous with 80's video games. On the other hand, if you ever tried to read a few lines of text rendered with a 8-point pixel font, you would have already realized that the text is very hard, if not impossible, to read. If the use of illegible pixel fonts only applied to Flash designs, one might ignore the problem to some extent, but they are now started to be used in HTML designs as well.

由于Flash播放器不能正确呈现小字号字体，所以像素字体很快流行起来。如果不考虑字体尺寸，文本是平滑的，因此小字号文本会很模糊，难以阅读。解决方法是，利用特别设计的像素字体，因为它不需要反锯齿处理，就如同标准的TrueType字体。像素字体与FixedSys (Windows) 或 Chicago (Mac)不同，不属于位图字体，而属于TrueType字体（从技术层面讲）。但由于这种字体只有在小字号情况下运用（例如：8pt、9pt或10pt），所以利用这种字体的设计者避免利用曲线，而利用矩形块。现在，听上去是不是很实用？ 设计者更喜欢利用这种字体，因为此字体在Flash 中更具有活力，并且在电脑游戏中运用，效果也很好。另一方面，如果你浏览过利用8pt像素字体呈现的文章，可能注意到浏览很困难。用户可能会在某种程度上会忽视Flash中的模糊像素字体，但现在像素字体已经开始应用于HTML设计中。

3. Scroll Arrows:
滚动箭头

Who needs old school scroll bars when there are neat arrow controls that allow visitors to scroll only an area of the page rather than the whole browser window? Unfortunately scroll arrows have serious inherent problems. Because scroll arrows are not standard, first you must be aware of their existence on the page you are viewing. Some designers do a really god job to hide them. You may easily click on a 'more familiar looking' link rather than try to figure out why that piece of text looks unfinished. Once you successfully located the arrows, the next thing you would do is of course to try to use them. But you would quickly realize that you are not in control, you are the one who is controlled: You have to hold the mouse cursor over an arrow in order to scroll the text in the direction of the arrow. Because scrolling speeds generally range from slow to very slow, if the text you are scrolling is long, you may wait and wait and wait (you get the point) until you reach the part you want. Oh, there is no bar either. You simply cannot drag the bar to the desired position, nor can you use keyboard shortcuts such as Home and End.

当网站中出现拉动网页的箭头时，就不需要出现滚动条。然而，滚动箭头也有自己的缺点，因为他们都不标准。首先，你必须注意网页中滚动箭头的存在。许多网站设计者隐藏滚动箭头，通常你会点击更熟悉的链接，而不是判断这篇文章为什么没有结束。确定箭头位置以后，尝试进行利用。但你很快会发现：不是你控制它们，而是它们控制你，你必须牢牢控制鼠标指针，以便于在箭头的方向下滚动文本。因为滚动速度逐渐变慢，如果文本太长，你可能需要等待很长时间才能找到需要的内容。对，由于没有滚动条，你不能拉动滚动条寻找合适内容，也不能利用快捷键，比如说，Home与End。

4. Fixed Window Sizes:
固定的窗口尺寸

Some web sites open a new window with no browser or window controls at all. Anyone remembers the early multimedia applications that run in a 640x480 window regardless of the resolution you are using? Web designs that rely on fixed windows are the reincarnation of those old applications. At a typical web site using a fixed-size window, you are not allowed to resize the window according your preferences, generally forced to click on Next buttons, or use scroll arrows (see above).

有些网站会出现没有浏览器、没有窗口控制键的新窗口。是否还记得早期在640x480 窗口中运用的多媒体软件呢？这些软件没有考虑用户计算机的分辨率。依赖固定尺寸的网站设计就是那些老式应用软件的翻版。在运用固定尺寸窗口的网站中，用户不能根据自己意愿改变窗口大小，一般需要点击“下一个”按钮，或者利用滚动箭头。

5. Sound Loops:
循环出现的声音

There are some web designers out there who think that their Flash designs become even more cool after they added a 3-second techno sound loop. It may get really annoying to stay on guard in order to lower the volume fast every time you visit a new site. Yes, there are usually sound off buttons, but for some reason many do not appear instantly, and even if you turn the sound off, some Flash designers like to keep those short menu sounds always on. You know... blip, ding, boing, etc. After moving the mouse cursor over a dozen menu items a couple of times, that behavior becomes really annoying as well.

有些网站设计者认为，添加3秒钟的声音效果之后，Flash设计会更吸引用户。初次访问某个网站时，你肯定不喜欢那些令人厌烦的声音。是的，你可以点击关闭按钮，但按钮却不会立即出现，即使关闭声音，也可能会出现简短的菜单弹出声音，例如：blip、 ding、boing等等。如果多次出现这种情况，真的很令人讨厌。

网站字体应该具有视觉吸引力 创建Flash导航菜单

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