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There are several Canadian advertising agencies that I really admire. But, quite crudely, when it comes to usability and accessibility, their websites suck.

I don't want to name names, because it wouldn't be fair. But in the world of ad agencies, websites are about creativity and artistic vision. Mundane stuff like usability and accessibility are out the window. To try to point out one for poor user-friendliness, well, it's like shooting in a barrel.

There is one agency's site that, while wildly creative, can also be wildly irritating. It's so, errr, "dynamic and interactive" (yes, the air quotes are flying madly) that the thoughtful designer included a "Feeling Lost?" button at the bottom of the site. When you click on it, the message changes to "Navigation for Linear Thinkers" along with a primer on how to navigate the site. Isn't that a little slap in the face? In essence: You're not visionary enough to see how coolio this is.

No, you pompous twit, I just don't have time to jerk around on your site.

As I looked at some of the agencies' sites, there was a sense of déjà vu. Each one was creative. The companies do fabulous work. But a lot of the same usability and accessibility issues reoccurred, namely: 

• Artistic Vision Über Alles- Beauty and usability are not mutually exclusive, but many agencies forsake functionality for form.
• Print Design Logic - Websites should be dynamic. Am agency has no idea what monitor size any given visitor is using. As well, sometimes on agency sites the page length is set, so text has to accommodate the design. If the text doesn't fit perfectly, you have the joy of pressing a "next page" button. Which segues to…
• Frame Me - I don't know if you can hear the primal scream from there, but, it's un-freaking-believable how many times have I seen text plopped into a tiny scrolling box on the page… Why, why, why would you do that?
• Mystery Meat Navigation - Agencies love to break the rules. It's what they do best. It makes them edgy and fresh. But, to remove the differentiation between regular text and links, or to create some sort of splodge that, when clicked on, reveals a video or whatever…well, that just says you don't really have much regard for the site visitor.
• Content Light - Okay, this is the copywriter in me speaking, but most agency sites are so light on compelling content. It's all about the visual, as if their prospective client has never heard of them before and they need to grab attention. (David Meerman Scott wrote a great post about that last month.) Surely, potential clients want great copy too?
  

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