20 Websites That Are So Ugly You Would Run Away Screaming

Featured Image: iStock/maselkoo99
Remember the youthful years of the internet? Websites were something of a novelty back then and didn’t really have a clear purpose plus they were horribly hideous to look at. It was a time of terrible animations and gaudy colors. Does anyone recall the annoying dancing baby?
Things eventually got better as designs changed for good and the dancing baby Cha-Cha’ed his way out. But there are some websites who didn’t get the memo that the 21st century has arrived. We bring you the ugliest (at time, hilariously so) web designs.
From the looks of things none of these designers have ever seen an actual website. The only way any one would think of this as a good design is if they have ben loving under a rock for the past two decades.
We have rounded up 20 of the ugliest websites we can find. Feast your eyes on the sheer amount of Nope!
1. PennyJuice
Source: PennyJuice
We have no idea who or what PennyJuice, but we are 100% sure this website is just…awful, we really didn’t know what looks worse, the gaudy colors or the ridiculous design, take your pick. The question shouldn’t be “Who is PennyJuice?” we should be asking “Why?” as in why does this exist? And “How can I erase it from my memory?”
2. Arngren
Source: Arngren
Is it an online store? A bird? A plane? Nope, it’s a Superbad website, the Kryptonite for good website designers. When the least confusing thing about your website is the foreign language, then you know it’s an amazingly bad design.
3. Yale University School Of Arts
Source: Yale University School Of Arts
After having your eyes blinded by the previous one, this one is almost a relief, almost. We couldn’t believe this is what the homepage of the Yale University School of Arts looks like. This website “Just Wasn’t Made for This Times” .The repeated tile background looks right out of the heydays of MySpace. Is it an ironic new style of art? Something only the Elis understand? We don’t know, any geniuses out there want to help us out?
4. LingCars
Source: LingCars
This one is in a league of its own, honestly the screenshot doesn’t do justice to it, click on the image to see the flashing fonts and animations yourself. We spent 20 minutes debating why the dude has a freakin’ chicken on the Twitter widget. A horrible mish-mash of every font and color the designer could think of. We have no idea if the company is leasing cars or trying to make artists suffer. This is just the homepage, it gets worse when you click on the anything. We dare you to click that fuchsia Meet My Staff banner.
5. Starship Control
Source: Starship Control
Starship might be delighting audiences as the website claims but we are anything but. The clashing elements and the color scheme just looks wrong. And the background of the menacing mandrill definitely doesn’t improve things.
6. Irish Wrecks Online
Source: Irish Wrecks Online
This site lists the locations of all shipwrecks which can be found off the coast of Ireland. It’s quite an interesting website but completely ruined by the MS Word Clipart-inspired design. The information is useful but presented in giant tables.
7. James Bond Museum
Source: James Bond Museum
This website manages to do the impossible, they actually made James Bond look bland and un-classy. All the pictures of expensive sports cars in the world won’t make up for that horrific design. This should be marked For No One’s Eyes.
8. PetersBuss
Source: Peters Buss
This is apparently a Swedish travel site, we think, Google translate didn’t work for this and we don’t know why. Even if the content made sense the look of the site leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe Google will come up with an “Update the Design” button in the future.
9. Arrestling
Source: Arrestling
This is bas design and color sense taken to the extreme. We explored the site; apparently, it teaches police officers and private security guards the art of handling violent encounters. Whatever effect the web designer was trying to achieve, he strayed far far away from the mark.
10. Illuminati Exposers
Source: Illuminati Exposers
Don’t get excited, it only looks like the promo for an epic Bible-based MMORPG. This apparently is the website of someone who wants you to know the truth. The only thing these people manage to expose is their bad taste aesthetic sense.
DON’T BE RIDICULOUS. USE OUR TRENDY THEMES TO REVAMP YOUR WEBSITES!
11. Gates N Fences
Source: Gates N Fences
These guys design beautiful gates, some of the designs were quite elaborate. Too bad, they didn’t apply the same aesthetics to their website design.
12. Liberty Van
Source: Liberty Van
This is one of the strangest thing we have come upon in our travels on the badly designed Yellow Brick Road.
13. Gathering Of Nations
Source: Gathering Of Nations
Great event and brilliant organization, but look at the website, it looks like it was designed using Paint. Plus the ticket information is impossible to find without psychic powers but the sponsor section smacks you in the face. Just kidding, we did manage to find but only by Googling it.
14. Preterist Archive
Source: Preterist Archive
Diving into this website has been quite a knowledgeable journey, apparently Preterists believe that all prophecies in the Bible refer to the past. A quick jaunt through Wikipedia tells us that the word Preter comes from a Latin word meaning “Beyond” or “Past”. Apparently there is a chance the 1995-like design was used on purpose.
15. MSY Technology
Source: MSY Technology
This is an awful design for a shopping website. The products are lost in the mess of red and white. Even if the company has been in the industry for 19 years, as the website claims, we wouldn’t buy anything from it.
16. The Magic Of Baltimore
Source: MSY Technology
This site takes away the magic from the internet. The content is actually interesting but the old-timey design makes it look like an 80’s RPG dungeon.
17. Rover P6 Cars
Source: Rover P6 Cars
Another badly designed online store which drives away buyers. The font choice is awful, the colors are ill-advised and the layout is horrible.
18. Exmouth View Hotel
Source: Exmouth View Hotel
Hotels and restaurants are notorious for having badly designed websites. The Exmouth View Hotel’s website makes it look as appealing as the Overlook Hotel.
19. Spot Metering
Source: Spot Metering
Camera tutorials from someone who can’t upload quality images? No thanks.
20. TheMostAmazingWebsiteontheInternet
Source: The Most Amazing Web site on the Internet
Presenting The Most Amazing Website on the Internet!! Really, that’s what it’s called.
This is amazing, we are at a loss for words…what about you? It keeps getting better and better as you scroll down. This guy wins all the Interwebz, his design has it all, levitating guinea pigs, Freddie Prinze, Jr., the cast of Full House, Clarissa, Dog the Bounty Hunter, what more can you ask for. Is that a picture of Tom Cruise as an angel? Who knows….all we can say is this one takes the cake. And might we suggest switching from angel-Tom to this:
Tell us what you think by commenting below.
We’re betting that was quite an eye-opening (if not blinding) experience for you. Whatever you do, never ever ever do any of the things these website designers have done. Allow us to make up for the trip through the ugly looking-glass with this picture of an adorable kitten.
About The Author Eva Barnes
Eva is a marketing major with a keen interest in web design. She is also an explorer and loves to dig into web trends from mobile apps to visual communication and everything in between. Feel free to send her your web design queries or blog related feedback in the comments below.