Two Web Pet Peeves

How often have you seen the following, at the end of webzines or articles, usually on news sites?

Maybe you see the problem already. By the time you’ve read a page full of the article, and at the moment that you realize that the article is multipaged, it is rather unnecessary to use the “single page” button. Good design would dictate that the reader be given the option of reading the article as a single page, without having to read one page of the article before even knowing they had or needed the option.

While this issue is a little different were the number of pages 3 or more, I still think that before the reader begins to read the article, they should have the option then to combine the pages into one, making the user merely have to scroll, and also knowing approximately how long the article will be (based on the scroll bars), or to read to choose to read it in single pages.

My other pet peeve (of the day) revolves around sites, and sadly, Amazon is one, which show you images, with the promise of “Click to enlarge” or “See larger image” if you click or rollover the image. However, and quite often, the “larger” image isn’t. It is the same size. In many cases, the larger image is only 10-15% larger. That isn’t what people expect. If you can’t double or triple the size of the image, then don’t bother promising a larger image!

Here are two examples. These aren’t so bad. I’ve even seen websites which use the same image for both!